Best Thing I Never Knew I Needed
by crazyinlove.sky15
Summary: Chase is as romantic as a rock-and I don't mean the diamonds in a ring. Falling in love definitely was not on the agenda, but when he meets Aline, things start to change.
1. Prologue

_Mina sako arigato ka-ka-ka-kawaii!_

Aline Merrick, to her mother's dismay, had her radio on blast. Avril Lavigne's "Hello Kitty" boomed out of her speakers, despite her mother's constant reminders to 'turn that noise down'. Aline and her sister, Erin, sit on her bed sorting through old copies of _Vogue_ Aline got from their Aunt Cecilia. Though the two are 3 years apart in age, they're closer with each other than they are with any of their peers. Always have been and, hopefully, always will be.

"Look at that skirt." Erin points to a picture of a woman in the magazine wearing a pink red pleaded skirt with a Scottish-looking logo on it. She doesn't recognize the model, but she recognized the label.

"That's cute." Aline says half-heartedly,she's not one for big reactions.

"Aline Merrick! Turn that music _down_!" Her mother calls from downstairs. She turns her radio all the way down letting the loud silence take it's place.

"Ya know,mom's got company down stairs." Erin says.

"Really? Who?" Aline, suddenly curious, lifts her gaze from her notebook.

"Some of dad's new clients. Davenports or something-"

"Davenports?"

"Yeah."

"Like-_Tasha _Davenport?"

"Yes."

Tasha Davenport was Aline's favorite news reporter. She thought she was so funny and loved her stories. They weren't about death or poverty or the world's ever depressing problems, they were just trivial interesting facts like Michigan-shaped potatoes and babies that look like ex-presidents. Whenever she has a bad day she turns on her channel and feels a little better. Now, Tasha Davenport is in her _house_.

"I think mom wanted us to come down later when their kids get here." Erin adds, almost as an after thought, flipping a page in her book.

"And when were you going to tell me this?" Aline asks, annoyed. Erin shrugs.

"Now, I guess."

Aline kicks her legs off her bed and stands, heading to her closet.

"Well we have to get ready we have to-" She cuts off, looking through her clothes when she realizes...

"Oh my gosh, I have nothing to wear."

Erin re-positions her leg underneath her.

"What are you talking about? Aunt Cece just took us shopping last week."

Aline searches through every item in her closet. "Well, I didn't get anything for this occasion."

"What occasion? Aline-" she stops, getting to her feet and crossing the room, pushing Aline over for room and pulling out a blush pink mini-dress with an off shoulder portrait neckline and tapered short sleeves to bare your collarbones. Deluxe fabric forms a lined bodice for the perfect fit. The gleaming mini-skirt is flared and made versatile with side pockets.

"There. Okay? Just put it on." Erin says, carefully throwing the dress at her sister.

"Thank you." Aline says sincerely.

"It's what I'm here for." And she walks out, leaving Aline alone again in her thoughts and the silence they bring.


	2. Chapter 1

**Okay so I know I took a while to update. Saaaawwyyyyy! Alright so here's Aline. Read and Review!**

**Aline:**

I run to the front door and quickly smooth my dress' skirt, standing up straight with my hands on my lap. A smile is painted on my face- the small sophisticated Mona Lisa smile my mother taught me how to do. Gabriel, our butler, opens the door for our visitors. The first one I noticed was a tall boy with brown hair. His face is a square according to my makeup book-or is it a diamond…? I always get those two mixed up. I will admit, his brown eyes are pretty. The next one is a girl; same brown hair, same brown eyes. She looks nice, but she's wearing _a lot_ of makeup. The next boy I do recognize, sort of. He's short (but still taller than me) with the same brown hair as his siblings, but his eyes are different. They're green. The perfect match with his freckled face, the same ones that make me smile every time I see him. I've only talked to him once but I've definitely noticed him a lot. Cute, nerdy, shy boy who's dorky and spontaneous; way better than somewhat-attractive jocks that are dumb as glue and so obnoxious it's revolting. I think the worst part would be how they're so _predictable_. I never got his name, though, he smiles slightly. I blush a little, hoping he doesn't notice, and return his smile. Behind him, of course, is the legendary Donald Davenport, or at least I've heard he's legendary by my somewhat biased father. Behind him is his wife Tasha- _big family_, I think- and then…Leo? I didn't know he was a Davenport, surely enough his short brown figure pops up at my doorstep. I think that's it.

My mother comes out of the living room; a warm hostess grin graces her face.

"Donald. Tasha. How are you?" She says, her British accent is extremely audible. It goes in and out mostly, but not now. It's as clear as if we were actually in England.

"Hello Ella. We're fine, thank you." Mr. Davenport stretches out his hand, which my mother takes gracefully.

"It's so nice to finally meet you. This is my daughter Aline." Wait, if he wasn't here, who was downstairs before? I guess it was just Erin being wrong. Speaking of Erin, where is she? She's taking forever to get ready.

"Nice to meet you, this is Adam, Bree and Chase." Mr. Davenport offers me his hand, a place my tiny hands into his palm. They're warm and sweaty, much paler than my tan ones.

"Um, _hellooo_. What about me?" Leo sounds angry and forgotten. I smile.

"Oh yea, this is my step-son, Leo."

"Hi Leo." I don't need to shake his hand. We're lab partners in chemistry and he's my bad minton buddy for free time in gym.

Adam steps forward. "You like my coat?"

_Ummm…okay?_

"I do. Excellent fabrics, is it Armani?" I try to sound interested and not odd. He shrugs.

"Heck if I know. Here, you take it." He hangs the coat over my head like I'm a coat rack.

"Adam!" Bree scolds. "That is so rude!" she takes the coat off my hands. "I'm sorry, I wish I could say he's not always like this."

"It's okay. I've been treated worse."

_Not really._ I think, this would be a first.

"I'm Chase." Chase sticks his hand out for me to grab, I meet him half way.

"I know. We kind of just went through this." I say, not sarcastically, just as it's a fact. Like pennies are copper.

"Oh, I know. I like to introduce myself."

"Huh. Well, in that case. I'm Aline."

"I know." He grins playfully, the way my brother does when he's messing with me. Something stirs inside of me, a feeling I push down into the file cabinets of my brain. Something I can sort through later.

"Well," my mother claps, "I assume you didn't come to stare at our grand foyer all night. Aline, will you show our guests to the dining room, please?"

I nod, and lead the group down the hallway past the grand foyer and into the elegant, 17th century French dining room. I sneak a glance at Chase next to me, he looks around the room with a mix of emotions. Intrigue for one, it looks like he's recalling items of information from his textbooks. Recognition and he also looks impressed.

"This place is amazing." Bree breathes.

"Thank you. It's been in my family for years."

"Really?"

"Chateau Magdalena-this house- was built in the early 1500's. Its tenants, the Merricks, were some of the earliest settlers in California-"

"That's not true." Chase cuts in. "The book says Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was the first European to explore the California coast." my cheeks burn. Maybe he's smart but he's also a smart ass, and I'm not gonna be out-witted in my own home. Not by anyone.

"What _book_ says that? Wikipedia?" I retort, everyone laughs. "I'm sorry to tell you this but your books are wrong. I know it's shocking but don't worry it's not the end of the world. You can always use urban dictionary to clear things up if you're confused." Everyone bursts out in laughter, Chase turns red as a strawberry without responding. I know I got him and I feel a certain pride in that.

"No, but seriously, it's not in many textbooks- I'd say the last book with our names in it would have been '81."

"How would you know?" Chase asks, not bitter or cracked, just skeptical. I smile calmly.

"My father has a few copies left in the library. There used to be a school here."

"Why'd they take you guys out?" Leo asks. That's a good question, I never thought about it.

"I don't know." I say honestly, "I guess they ran out of ink." I step towards the table and spread my arms out towards it like a showgirl at an auto show. "Come, sit down."

Everyone takes a seat like I instructed, Gabriel pulls out my chair. I sit next to Bree and Leo and across from Chase and the big mural of my great-great-great grandfather, Giles Merrick, on the day he drove the Indians off this land. His horse, a white Arabian, stands on its hind legs, preparing to trample the Indians below it. They hold their arms over their heads as if it would cushion the impact. And Giles is above them, his arm thrown back, whip in hand, his mouth is open as if he were yelling at someone. Whether it's the horse or the Indians, I'll never know. I don't think I want to. The picture is sickening enough with what I know about it. Erin and Ethan don't seem to care about. It always disturbs me, it makes me feel guilty about living here. The lives ended for our life today, it's hard to stomach during a meal. Usually I sit on the other side so I don't have to look at it, then I avoid this room altogether. I wish my father would remove the picture and the message it depicts but I know he would never do that so I decided I won't even ask. The house goes to Ethan in the will, but maybe I can convince him to put it away somewhere when the manor is his. Hoping, wishful thinking. We'll see then.

**I'm sorry it had to end this way it's just late and I'm really tired- BUT!- fear not for I will update as soon as I can. Maybe if I get a few reviews I'll feel more motivated to continue. Just a thought…**


	3. Chapter 2

**Okay so this is part two of chapter 1. As a makeup for the sucky ending of the last post, I'm also gonna post Chapter 2 today and I'm gonna break out some new information about the Merrick family. You thought they were wealthy and happy right? Anything else…oh yea read and review and I don't the Davenports or the show but pretty much everything is this chapter is courtesy of mwah. Alright, here's Aline…**

**Aline**

"So Aline, I hear you go to Mission Creek." Mr. Davenport starts the conversation.

"I do." I answer in a voice similar to my mothers, quiet but interested.

"Really?" Bree asks, "How come I've never seen you?"

_I see you._ I think, but I don't say out loud. It could come out way wrong.

"I guess our schedules don't encourage a rendezvous." I say. "Actually, I do have a few classes with Leo."

"BioChem, Algebra, Chorus…" Leo lists off our classes, when Bree cuts in.

"Oh! You take chorus?"

"Yes."

"Can you sing?"

"I've been told. I used to be in my church's choir and the hobby just stuck."

"Who's your favorite singer?"

"I like really old singers like Duffy, but Christina Aguilera dominates my playlists."

"Have you ever watched _Burlesque_?"

"That's my favorite movie!"

"No way! I love that movie! I've watched it like a thousand times."

Bree continues asking me questions about my music and interests. Adam sits next to Chase, stealing food from his plate. I want to laugh when Chase smacks his hand, but I listen to Bree and pretend not to notice. One thing I can't get my mind off of, though, is where is my sister? And these are my father's guests, where is he? Worry fills my stomach making it feel a thousand pounds heavy.

Just as I'm thinking this, Erin walks in. She's changed into an Aqua v-neck minidress that is dotted with blue gems and purple ones giving the illusion she's sparkling like the ocean. She's really a beautiful woman, I've always been jealous since we were young. We have the same blonde hair and wide face, but the maturity of her look. It's beauty and strength, I've always been the dollface. My beauty is fragile, baby-like. With my round face and big eyes, my wide nose and small lips, my mother will never stop thinking of me as anything other than her baby angel. Erin is tall and lady like, she looks like a grown woman and people treat her like one.

When she walks in, though, she looks disturbed but she's hiding it. As for the Davenports, I doubt they can notice being as though they don't even know her name. But I can tell, her eyes bright with fear, but to new eyes they just appear to be bright.

"I am so sorry I'm late. You must be Mr. Davenport." She says. Her words come out quicker than normal, but her voice is stable. Mr. Davenport stands stretching out his hand.

"In the flesh." He grins. Erin takes his hand, her movements are stiff. "You must be the sister."

"Yes, I'm Erin."

"Chase look! They're clones…" Adam says, looking from me to Erin. Chase rolls his eyes and Bree face palms.

"No Adam they…" Bree starts then puffs, "You know what? I give up. Chase, you take this one."

"Nah, I'm good." Chase says dismissively, he hasn't looked at me this whole time. Erin just laughs at Adams remark, if I'm right her cheeks turn a little red. I hope that's makeup…speaking of makeup, I notice an extra caking of concealer under her left eye. Too much to be accidental…and my father still isn't here. What's up with that?

Erin takes a seat next to Adam, kicking my leg lightly when she sits down. It's our code for hidden excitement. Oh no…

For the rest of dinner I talk to Tasha and Bree and Leo, Mr. Davenport had to make a phone call and was gone for a while and Chase remains relatively quiet. Adam and Erin stay in their little corner talking about god knows what. She'll probably gonna tell me all about it later. All the while my father never shows up and I have no idea where my mother went.

"Excuse me." I say and get up to find a new fork for Adam after he dropped his doing some weird trick.

I enter the kitchen with intentions of silverware, what I find is much worse. Grabbing a fork from the sink I turn on the water and start to wash it when I hear voices far away. Two distinctive voices, a man and a woman. My mom and my dad.

_So he _is_ here. _I think. Part of me says to just walk away, the practical part of me, but in the end curiosity rules. I follow the voices into the family room. I can vaguely make out a conversation.

"What do you want from me, Henry?" My mother sounds exasperated yet defensive.

"I want you to handle those girls." My father sounds as if he's taking about hookers on the streets. 'Those girls'…he can't mean me and Erin. Could he?

"Handle them? Handle them how? They're teenagers, Henry. We can't control them forever and they're realizing that now."

"Exactly, they're teenagers. If you can't handle them I know how to."

"You didn't have to _hit_ her-"

"I wasn't going to, but that girl has a mouth on her and I just…snapped. It's one thing to blatantly disregard my rules, but I will not be disrespected in my own house. I would do it again. If I had to."

_Hit her?_ I think back to Erin's strange behavior and extra makeup. Could he be talking about us? My father is abusing girls…would it be better if he wasn't?

My mother shakes her head and then she looks at me.

"Aline." She says, as if that conversation didn't happen. "Shouldn't you be entertaining the company?"

_Shouldn't _you_?_ I think bitterly.

"I was just looking for my guitar." I lie.

"Oh, I put that back in the art room." She says.

"Okay, thanks." And I turn back to the living room.

"Aline, wait." My dad stops me. I turn to face him, afraid of what will come next. "Will you tell Mr. Davenport that I am so sorry I missed dinner but I will be happy to meet with him some other time? My workforce is dull-witted. My apologies."

I nod. "I'm sure he will understand."

"Good girl."

**Okay so new highs and lows. If you wanted to imagine what Aline looks like go ahead but if you want a little more detail just look at a picture of Gemma Ward-the most beautiful person in the world btw- and Amanda Seyfried for Erin. Alright read and review for the full cast and I'll update soon.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey again. I'm not gonna say much this time because well…there isn't much to say. Other than I don't own lab rats-blah, blah, blah- you get the point. Read and review!**

**PS: The songs Aline says she wrote, I don't own them either I just figured it'd be easier to use music people are familiar with or can research to get an idea of what she was writing. Alll credits will be given at the end. Alright Aline…**

**Aline:**

When the Davenports left yesterday things got really strange. Erin didn't rush to tell me about Adam or even tease me about Chase. She just went up to her room, closed the door, and stayed there. It was hard to fall asleep after that conversation. It kept replaying in my head. Eventually I was able to find sleep and in the morning, things were easier.

I found my table in the lunchroom at school and pulled out my notebook. I sit alone in the mornings and use that time to write. Something about the chaotic disorder of a high school cafeteria is inspirational to me.

Just as I start to get a flow going I see Bree. I wave at her and she comes over to my table.

"Hey, so I guess you do exist." She smiles. I laugh.

"Are you sure about that?" I ask and lift up my arm, she pinches me softly.

"Pretty sure." She says, "Do you want to sit with us?"

I look over to where the boys are. Adam is using his spoon and knife as drum sticks and Chase looks like he wants to be anywhere else. Leo is fiercely hitting the buttons on his Nintendo Game. I smile.

"Yea, I guess." I grab my backpack and follow Bree to back to home.

"Hey, look who I found." Bree announces. Everyone turns to see me. I wave with my free fingers.

"Oh, hey." Chase says blandly then looks away.

"What? That dry?" I say messing up his hair. He swats me away.

"Quit." He says, but he sounds only half engrossed. He's staring somewhere else.

"What are you looking at anyways?" I put my head next to his in the same direction and I see exactly what he's looking at. Or should I say_ who._ Sitting in a group of girls, I see the girl that brings most guys at this school to their knees. Gabriella Wilde, with her long blonde hair and flawless skin, her charming personality, she's a total magnet.

"Oh," I smirk. "I see."

"Get off." Chase says. I throw my hands up in retreat.

"Have you ever talked to her?" Chase looks at me like I'm a flaw in a very long algebra equation.

"Of course I haven't talked to her. She's _Gabriella Wilde._"

"She's a girl. You're a guy. What's so hard about that?"

"It's not that simple."

"And why not?"

"It's just…not. Okay? Can we drop the subject?"

I look over to Gabriella's table. One of her brown haired friends, Stacy Wilcox, just said something to make her laugh. Gabriella flips her hair back flashing the world with pearly white teeth and an engaging smile. I look back at Chase; his look is a mix of longing and distance. Suddenly I realize I'm squeezing my hands into fists. Where did that come from?

"Fine," I say, "I can't make you talk to her, but you can't stop me from doing it."

**Chase:**

"Aline no-" I reach out for her arm but she breaks my grip. I watch her walk up to Gabriella's table and start talking. That easy. I'm rocking in my chair slightly, for the first time in a long time my brain is a chaotic mess. What is she saying to her? What if Gabriella says no? What if she says _yes_? I have no idea what to do on a date. I watch Aline talk with her so casually and wish I could do the same. Finally the first bell rings. She waves goodbye and comes back to our table for her things.

"Well?" I start, "What'd you guys talk about? Is she single? What'd she say? Did you mention my name?"

"Woah." Aline waves me to a halt, "Slow down Romeo. I didn't tell her you think she's cute. You have to do that yourself. _But_, there's that moonlight dance coming up, and she doesn't have a date. Ask her to that and see what she says."

"And how do you suppose I do that?"

"I already said it. She's a girl. You're a guy. Enough said."

My stomach flips and does a dance.

"All right. I'll do it." I give in. Aline's grins.

"Great. Let me know what happens. Oh, and Chase?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember. She's Gabriella Wilde. If you want a ride you better jump on that train quick."

I laugh, wondering where this cool girl was last night. Running through my head how I'm gonna ask the most beautiful girl in school to the dance with me.

**Aline:**

I close my locker door and Chase is leaning on the lockers next to it. I'm too curious about Gabriella to wonder where he came from.

"Hey. So? What did she say?" I ask, getting excited.

"So I talked to her after Algebra…" He starts.

"And…" I push.

"And she said yes."

I gasp. "Look at you! Mr. Nerds-got-game." I laugh at my own joke. Chase finds it funny.

"Yup. It feels good." He says in a strained voice that sounds like he was stretching. I laugh.

"What class do you have next?" He asks.

"Algebra. What a coincidence." I say, clearly unpleased.

"Don't worry. We have lunch after that so just hang on."

"Okay." Something stirs in me, the same thing from last night. My fingers tremble and my stomach is suddenly full of nothing. "Well, I'll see you later."

"See ya." He walks away. He moves his shoulders when he walks like a cartoon character with extra confidence. I laugh to myself and at the same time I realize I was driving my fingers into my palm. What's wrong with me?

**Aayyyeee! So there's this chapter. It's getting more fun to write this. Is it more interesting to read? Okay so I'm gonna start writing more into Chase's POV 'cause I imagined you would like to see what Chase thinks of this new girl. Anything else…nope! That's it for now! Aurevior or however you spell that. I took Spanish…**


	5. Chapter 4

**I'm baaaaaaaack! Okay so this chapter should have more of Aline's music in it, I don't know I'm just writing here. When her feelings get strong, that's when she starts writing. Anything else…nope. OC take it from here…**

**Aline**:

_Now go stand in the corner and think about what you've done._

There's a knock on my door. Erin opens it.

"Knock Knock." She chirps. "You've got mail." She holds out a plain white envelope with cursive writing on the front.

_To Aline: The Angel Merrick, _It says. It doesn't say who it's from.

I open the envelope. Inside it has a short poem, thankfully in print.

"The days are dull, but bright the night. Will you be my star in the moonlight?" I read aloud.

_Really?_ I think. It's a little cliché, but in a way it's sweet.

"Any idea who it's from?" Erin asks, clearly anticipating some form of gossip or love life information. I shake my head.

"Nope. No clue." I place the letter on top of my speakers next to me.

"Really? You have _no_ clue?" Erin sounds like she knows something. She knows something, or she thinks I know something. Either way, she'd be wrong.

"No." I say. She squints her eyes in suspicion, but then moves on.

"Alright, whatever." She says and backs out of the room but I stop her.

"Hey what was that whole thing with Adam?" I ask.

"Oh," she looks down and laughs as if recalling a funny memory. "That was nothing."

"Really? You two seemed really cozy."

"Well, we're not. Okay?" she says bluntly.

"Alright." I say giving up on the subject turning back to my notebook. I go over the lyrics one time before I singing them out loud.

_I lay alone awake at night, sorrow fills my eyes._

_But I'm not strong enough to cry, despite my disguise._

_I'm left with no shoulder, but everybody wants to lean on me._

_I guess I'm their soldier, but who's gonna be mine._

_Who's there to save the hero?_

_When she's left all alone, and she's crying out for help?_

_Who's there to save the hero? _

_Who's there to save the girl after she saves the world?_

That's all I have written so far. Running through the melody in my head again and again I sit in silence for a minute until my phone rings. It's Bree.

"Hey girly." She sounds happy.

"Hey Bree." I sound dead in comparison.

"Are you doing anything right now?"

"Define 'doing something'."

"Like…important."

"Define 'important'-"

"Me and the guys are going to this new restaurant down town and were wondering if you wanted to come?"

I look at my notebook and weigh in my head whether I'd rather stay in all day and scribble on paper all day or go out and hang with Adam, Bree, and Chase. The idea of hanging out with Chase takes away my breath for a second. I wonder what that's about.

"Alright, I'll come. Where's this place at?" I say.

"Don't worry about that. We'll come and get you."

"Okay. I'll see you then."

I close my notebook and scoot into view of my vanity mirror.

_I need to change clothes_. I think pitifully. Suddenly I feel cosmetically conscious.

I change into a pink sweatshirt with "Addicted to love" in cursive writing on the front and black leggings. I don't want to seem like I'm trying to hard but I don't want to look like a bum…outfit change.

A black floral blouse with shorts and a pink sweater? Change. A pink varsity jacket with denim jeans and a bow? Change. I must have tried my whole closet when I stand in front of the mirror with a silver sequined tank and denim shorts. Party-like, not too classy, not too dull.

_I wonder what he'll think of me in it… _A voice in my head blurts out. Woah. Who cares what he thinks? I don't…then I realize I haven't said who 'he' is yet I know exactly who I'm talking about…

Maybe this trip isn't the best idea, suddenly my phone rings again. It's Bree, again. Too late…

"Hey we're outside."

"I'm coming. One minute." I say and take one last look at myself and head downstairs.

Through the 17th century décor of my home, I can't help but feel out of place. Which is totally preposterous since I've lived here all of my life. On my way, I run into my dad. My organs drop, I'm paralyzed.

"Where are you running off too?" He says, his voice is slow and somehow scarier than before. Every word holds onto my heart like it's choking it.

"I'm just meeting up with some friends." I try to keep my voice straight.

"Friends?" He asks.

"Adam, Bree, and Chase Davenport."

"Oh." He sounds impressed. "I see you all are getting along."

"Yes we are and they're waiting for me so I should go." I slip past him.

"Be back by nine." He says.

And I hurry out the door, eager to be out of his reach.

**Well that's all for now. Oh yea and that song she 'wrote' is called "Save the Hero" by Beyonce. You should look it up it's a beautiful song. Anything else…nope. Foreign words! **


	6. Chapter 5

**I know I've updated a lot recently, but you don't understand how board I am and my cousin is holding me at imaginary gunpoint and forcing me write so you can thank her(help me).**

**Aline:**

The Davenports arrive in a sleek sports car, but I don't recognize the model. I examine the car, unaware that my mouth is gaping staring at the design. So simple, yet so complex.

Chase opens his door.

"Heeyy." Bree leans through the front seats from the back so I can see her.

"Are you getting in?" Chase asks. I notice the car only has two doors.

"I'm not sure all fit."

"Sure you will. You're tiny, and if you can't fit back there with Bree and Leo you can always sit on Chase's lap." Adam says. I'm not sure if it was a joke or if he was being serious.

"Yea Aline. Come cuddle with Chase." Bree jokes. My cheeks flush involuntarily.

"Nah, I'm good." I say stupidly.

"Leo, scoot over." Chase says and steps out for me to get in the back. I sit in the middle of Bree and Leo.

It's a short drive, only about 20 minutes. When we get there, the building glows in the dusk twilight. _ACID_ lights up the night in neon letters. There's no line, but kids stand outside in their cliques.

"What _is_ this place?" I ask, mesmerized by the enchanting lights.

"Can't you read?" Chase asks, "It's ACID."

"Mission Creek's only all-ages night club." Bree explains.

"Wow." I breath.

When we walk in, we enter a long hallway made of what looks like metallic honeycombs. My heart is fluttering in excitement; I press my hands together to keep them from shaking. I feel out of place, like I shouldn't be here but I know I want to. I stay close to Chase the whole time. I see now why they call it ACID. The lighting on the walls and on the table of the bar is iridescent and blue. My first thought is that it feels like I'm submerged in a flask of acid.

I look around at the bouncing bodies and flickering lights. Fog rises to the ceiling and moves around the building haphazardly. The ceiling glistens like the silver hallways we're leaving behind.

"I've never been anywhere like this before." I say.

"What?!" Chase has to shout over the loud music.

"I said this is my first time being here!" I shout.

"Me too!" He responds. The music is playing so loud it takes over my brain. It's all I can think about, all I can feel. I have my music loud all the time at home, but this makes me uncomfortable. Maybe it's the overload of people or the exotic location but whatever it is, I don't like it. Now I know how my mother feels… I bump into a girl walking past me and she doesn't even acknowledge I exist. I plug my ears, moving closer and closer to Chase. He must notice my discomfort. He pulls me closer.

"It's okay." He says, "Just focus on the music. You love music, right?"

"It's so _loud_." I say. Chase looks around.

"Come with me." He takes my hand and pulls me through the crowd, leaving the others behind.

He walks me into the center of the crowd. The exact opposite of what I need. Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty" blasts through my ears, I really want to leave.

"Chase, I wanna go-"I start when he spins me around and places his hands just above my hips. Against the wild dancers around us and the crazy fast music, the two of us rock slowly. Just as slowly I become more comfortable with being here.

"See?" he says "It's not that hard."

I smile. "You're learning."

"I had a good teacher."

"Fair argument. So how did you find this place?"

He looks a little guilty. "Well actually-"

"Chase?" A light, perky voice I'd know anywhere comes in. It's Gabriella. She grabs his shoulder and spins him towards her.

"Gabriella!" He looks surprised and very happy to see her. I swear he forgets I'm here.

"Hey." She says, side glancing me.

"Oh-this is my friend, um…my friend…" My cheeks flush.

"Paris Hilton." I say sarcastically.

"Paris Hilton." He says clueless. Gabriella looks between us then bursts out laughing. Chase stares at her likes she's perfect, maybe she is…my stomach does that churning thing again.

"We've met. I talked to you earlier." She says.

"Yeah," I say dryly. "Nice to see you again."

"Okay…" her voice remains bright and happy, it's so irritating. "Chase, you wanna dance?"

He perks up like a dog you've offered a treat. "Uh, yeah. Sure thing. Later Aline."

He barely waves at me before disappearing into the crowd with his blonde-haired Barbie. I swear her mascara was smudged. How can that _not_ be a turn off? Guys are so gullible. Angrily, I push through the cluster of people and make my way to the soda bar. Taking a seat at one of the stools I turn away from the dance floor and lean my arms on the countertop, clasping my hands over my ears to try and lower the volume. My face is red hot. How could he just leave me out there? And if he knew he had to meet her here, why did he take me away from everyone else? Just to leave me alone in this Planet of the apes Jurassic park mating ground. Ugh, And why the hell is she so happy all the damn time? It's so _fake_. Is that all the rage now? Fake VS Angel wannabe's who parade around with plastic smiles and cotton balls in their purses? Disgusting. I'm glad I'm not a guy; they only care about what's on the outside and what they can't have. I mean, Chase doesn't really think he has a chance with her does he? She's Gabriella Wilde and he's…Chase Davenport. Two totally different people from two totally different worlds. He's a Libra, she's a Pisces. It seldom last long if anything starts at all. The two are just too different.

"Can I get you anything?" I hear the voice of a boy. His voice is deep and mesmerizing, but otherwise not that impressive.

"Some aspirin?" I ask, half joking. He sucks in a breath as if he burned his hand.

"Sorry we don't have that here." He sounds only half apologetic.

"What kind of bar doesn't have aspirin?"

"The same kind that doesn't have alcohol."

Damn. He got me.

"Fine. Touché."

For a while I stop talking but then the noise gets to me again.

"God, who do you have to talk to get them to turn this music down?" I ask angrily, suddenly realizing I sound like my mother. Just like her.

"Yea I don't think you're gonna find much luck with that." He says. He's right, it was a really stupid question. This is a nightclub, not my bedroom.

"But if you don't like the volume in here, I could take you some place quieter."

I drop my hands, ready to retort his blatant suggestion, when I take one look at him and I'm actually surprised. He raises his eyebrow and smirks. He's drying a cup with a white towel, that and his grey tank top really make his muscles stand out. I'll admit, I'm usually not this gullible, but hey, what the hell? It's Friday and we're at a big new night club. It's like Bree said during the ride here. "You gotta live a little."

"How much quieter?"

**Lots of new emotions, plenty of new people and-possible developing romances? Don't worry, OChase(OCxChase, get it?) will have their turn in the spotlight. Just be patient...**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hola people! I'm not gonna talk too much this time. Just the disclaimer; I don't own Lab Rats or the songs- but of course you knew that already. Oh, and there's gonna be a little graphic scene so be warned. Alright Chase, take it over.**

**Chase**

Gabriella and I stand I stand in the center of a mass of people sweating and dancing like nothing else matters. Gabriella bounces freely to the beat, I move awkwardly trying to match the crowd; glancing around analyzing how they move so wildly. I'm totally lost in this chaos, the feeling of being so out of control is unnerving and foreign to me, suddenly I'm very uncomfortable. Is this how Aline felt? I wish she was here to tell me 'it's not that hard' I felt relaxed with her and I knew exactly what I was doing. It wasn't hard at all…wait. What am I talking about? I'm in the towns hottest club with the hottest girl in school. I should be focused on her, not thinking about Aline…

"Is everything okay Chase?" Gabriella pulls me out of my revere.

"Huh?" I ask dumbfounded.  
>"Are you alright? You seem a little stiff."<p>

"No," I shake my head. "I'm fine."

She nods and shakes it off. I can't help but wonder if Aline would have brushed it off or forced it out of me…

_Gabriella, _I think, _you're with Gabriella now._

I loosen up a little, spinning her under my arm like I see other people doing, but no matter what I'm still not a dancer. Gabriella doesn't seem to mind.

The song changes and she lights up.

"I _love _this song!" She exclaims, swaying my arms and her hips in opposite like a ribbon you sway in your hands.

We spin and step and dance trying not to bump into neighboring party-goers. I think there's something in the fog because I swear I see Aline's face a few times instead of Gabriella's.

**Aline:**

The boy, who I now know is named Tre, leads me to a hallway behind the bar. It's a lot less decorated back here, really dark like a Manhattan alley. Still, when the door closes behind us the music decreases substantially. I feel so much better.

I see the walls are lined with doors. Tre leads me to the first one on my right. He unlocks it.

"In here." He instructs. I venture in carefully and find a beige couch. I'm relieved to find a place to sit.

"Thank you." I say then flop on the soft couch. I look around the room, there's not much in it. Just a desk with a lot of papers on the other side and a lot of boxes, but other than that it seems pretty orderly. Tre walks over to the counter on the other end of the room. There's a marble kitchen, like one from a New York apartment, with glass cups lined in a perfect row in the wooden cabinet above. He takes out two and fills them with what I assume is ginger ale. It's a champagne colored liquid with bubbles fizzing up to the top like oxygen-deprived scuba divers. He hands me a cup, which I take in two hands and sits next to me on the couch.

We sit in silence for a few minutes. I search my mind for something to say. Looking around, I notice a stack of CD's on the nightstand next to the couch.

"You like Green Day?" I ask.

"Yea. My friend got me hooked on their music freshman year."

"Oh. What grade re you in?"

"11th. I'm a junior."

I run out of things to say, and we're back in silence until he breaks it.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"I guess."

"Why are you here?"

I look at him, lost.

"I mean," he begins, "You obviously aren't used to this kind of setting. And you didn't look like you enjoyed it, so why did you come?"

He's perceptive, I'll give him that. My heart pounds, I've never been alone in a room with a boy especially not this close, other than Ethan, my brother.

"I came with some friends. They kind of abandoned me."

"They don't sound like good friends. Leaving you like this."

I don't know what to say to that. Is he right? I mean I did feel like Chase was a lousy friend leaving me out there on the dance floor, but the others?

"I don't mean to be judgmental" Tre continues, "Just a thought."

"No its okay, you're not wrong." I didn't say he was right, though. We're silent for another minute, I spend that minute searching his face for a reaction, trying to figure out what he thinks about me. He doesn't look like a bad boy- although his clothes and demeanor would disagree- he looks sincere. Like a boy from a 50's teenage romance. The douchebag with a heart; the misunderstood rebel. Is he misunderstood? How am I thinking so much about a boy I just met? I don't know anything other than his name and he's hot. That's it, that's all. I guess it sucks being a girl too, we tend to be very naïve when it comes to boys.

"I wouldn't have left you." He says softly, my heart goes numb. I don't know how to feel about that, no guy has ever talked to me like _that_ before. Not even Ethan. I look away, feeling stupid, taking a sip of my soda and notice how it tastes a little bitterer than ginger ale.

Tre grabs my chin and turns my head so it's facing his. Before I know it he's leaning in, moving fast like he's confident I won't push him away. In reality I'm frozen unsure if I should slap him or lean in as well. A million pictures of Chase flash in my mind before his lips touch mine. It's not like I read in the books, I don't feel fire coursing through my body or an undeniable connection between me and Tre. I feel guilty and uncomfortable and kind of disgusted. His lips are cold and wet, they move sloppily over mine, I pull my head back but he moves his forward and I'm unable to break away. I push on his torso trying to put distance between us but I only manage a little space.

"Tre- _stop-"_I start but he pushes himself on me again. My heart is beating hard against my chest; my brain is so scribbled with the fear of what might happen I can't think straight. Suddenly my head starts spinning and my vision gets foggy. He pushes me down on my back and I try to kick and punch but my head starts feeling heavy. I lose my breath quickly, it feels like I've just sprinted a mile. I wasn't wrong in the beginning, Tre is strong. Too strong for me, I manage to pry him off of me long enough to let out a throat ripping scream. Before it gets too far he claps a hand over my mouth hard.

"You can scream all you want to. No one will hear you in here." He says, all the compassion gone from his voice, it's replaced by something sick, something twisted and dark. "Don't look so disappointed, it's what you wanted right? Some place quieter?"

I try to push him off of me but his arms cover both of mine, pinning me down to the couch and making me immobile. I try to scream again but it's muffled by his hand and dissolves into a pleading cry.

"Now," he says. "If you would just cooperate, this won't take long." He releases mouth and his sits up, all of his weight bearing on top of my fragile body. He starts to unbuckle his belt and I already know there's nothing I can do to stop him. My head spins so fast, I'm incapable of mobility. He must've put something in my drink. Why did I have to drink that drink? Stupid stupid _stupid_! Black dots start to appear in my vision, and the world starts o fizz out of view. I look towards the door and think about how easy it would be to leave, to bolt, if only I could move. The last thing I feel before I drift away from consciousness is the feel of his cold venomous lips just above my collar bone.

**So the lesson is children, never follow a strange guy into a strange room alone, even if he's hot. I know, tough right? Well unless you wanna end up like Aline, I suggest you rethink your flirting approach. Anything else…nope. Review?;-9**


	8. Chapter 7

**Nothing much to say this time, just review please J**

**Chase:**

I stand by the bathrooms, leaning against the wall, waiting for Gabriella. She's been in there a while, I guess it takes time to look that good. I wonder how long Aline spends on beauty, I mean she is kind of really pretty. She reminds me of something magical, like a mermaid or an angel. She's not _kind of _pretty, she's beautiful…

Gabriella, I'm with Gabriella. Honestly, I think this is getting annoying. Whatever I felt twelve hours ago is slowly starting to make its way out of my system. I'm starting to get the feeling Gabriella Wilde is too…_wild _for me. Oh well, I still have the moonlight dance this Saturday, I'll see how I'm feeling by then.

"Chase!" Bree stumbles out of the sea of people, a familiar face in the crowd of strangers, holding a glass in one hand in some guy I recognize as Sebastian Sloan in the other. She drags him by his collar as if she's trying not to lose him in the thick wave of bodies. She has a grin on her face like she's not exactly in full mental capacity. I'm starting to doubt the "alcohol free" sign on the bar. "Chase!" She shouts again. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Well here I am." I say innocuously, "I see you've made a friend."

"Oh yea, Chase this is Sebastian." She pulls me down to her height so she can say something in my ear. "His dad's an _alien_."

I furrow my brows in confusion. "Sebastian said he went to _space." _Bree sounds so uncharacteristically intrigued it's scary. I don't have to do a scan to see that she's drunk.

"You mean he's an astronaut?" I ask, speaking as if I'm questioning a child.

"Don't be so prejudice Chase; I'm sure he's a good guy."

I face palm. What's Mr. Davenport gonna say when he sees Bree drunk as a bimbo on New Year's Eve? I guess we're just gonna have to break curfew and sneak in when everyone's asleep. Whatever the punishment for that has to be way less than what it's looking like now.

"Okay Bree, have you seen any of the others? Adam? Leo? Aline?"

"Leo's passed out in the VIP area getting inked by cheerleaders." She points to Leo. We see his tiny body tied up in the middle of a group of girls sitting in the circular booth; from here I can see lines on his face and what looks like a drawing of Hello Kitty on his forehead. "And Adam's by the bar, he's about to show Kavin Monday that it's possible to shove a hundred French fries in your mouth at one time." We shift our attention over to Adam who is sitting in front of Kavin, his mouth is full of fries already but he insists on eating more and more and more.

"Just give up dude." Kavin says. Adam replies with something unintelligible, I'm assuming is a declaration of resilience. Kavin just looks confused. I turn back to Bree who's staring dramatically-dreamily at Sebastian, who doesn't seem to be paying much attention.

"And Aline?" I ask.

"What?" She snaps out of her daydream. This is hopeless.

"Aline. Where is she?"

Bree shrugs. "Haven't seen her."

"You haven't? Well, we have to find her. We have to-" Bree stops me before I get too hyped.

"Woah slow it up buttercup." She says authoritatively, it's nice to know one thing hasn't changed. "Relax, she's probably out having fun, meeting new people. Who knows how long it's been since her dad let her out of the house?"

"Did you see the way she was acting when we first walked in here? She's probably somewhere terrified or lost or _worse_. We have to find her before she gets worse."

"Trust me, Chase. She's fine. I saw her talking to the bartender earlier and he was pretty hot. He definitely had a thing for Aline. There probably on the dance floor or somewhere. Where ever she is she's _fine_."

The thought of Aline alone with some bartender makes my cheeks burn red and for a second I'm afraid Spike might rear his ugly head. This situation would not get better if that happened so I let myself calm down before thinking about anything else.

Gabriella chooses that second to come out of the bathroom.

"I'm back. Sorry, I had a really important call to make." Gabriella starts, but then she sees Bree. "Who's this?"

"Gabriella, this is-"

"Gabriella _Wilde_?!" Bree exclaimes as if she's seeing Beyonce in K Mart. I should have known Bree would react like this. She gravitates toward popularity like meteors towards the sun. Like a boomerang, even when she's far away she always comes back. I'm glad I'm not a girl, trying so hard to impress. Trying so hard to fit in, it would be exhausting. I think my brain would go into overdrive and Davenport would have to reset my chip. I should really be more considerate of Bree's over emotional whims.

"Do I know you?" Gabriella asks, politely but undoubtedly odd.

"No, probably not. But I know _you. _So what are you doing here? And by that I mean with-" she looks me up and down with a grimace, "_him_?"

"Oh you know just…_hangin_'. Okay Chase let's go-" she pulls my arm ready to bail when Bree over confidently steps in front of her.

"Wait where are you going? We just started talking. I'm Bree by the way, Chase's sister." She covers her mouth with one hand as if to block what she's say, but I wouldn't need super hearing to hear her anyways, she's a terrible whisperer. "Unless he does something stupid, in which case I have _never _met him."

Gabriella laughs supportively with Bree, but she side glances at me as if she's uncomfortable. I shrug apologetically, I don't want to set off an intoxicated Breana Davenport.

**Aline:**

I limp out of the room alone. Tre left a long time ago while I was passed out on his couch. The words he said to me still burn inside my head.

_"I wouldn't try and tell anyone. The judge is more likely to believe the pastor's son than some rich girl from out of town. Around here, we don't testify outsiders"_

I still can't believe this just happened. My legs hurt, my arms and feet are numb, and my head still feels like a cinder block on my neck. I'm hurt way beyond physically, my mind is so scrambled it feels like it's going to explode. Why did I follow that guy? A _bartender. _Mother always said don't talk to strangers, I thought that was just adults. It wasn't, I wish she would have told me that.

When I leave the quiet hallway I am once again surrounded by noise, but that's the least of my worries now. Against my volition, I glance towards the bar to see if Tre's still there, he's not. I'm almost relieved. I blindly make my way through the crowd, looking for Chase, or Adam, or Leo or anybody. No, not anybody. The numerous bodies surrounding me make me even more uncomfortable than the music when we first came in here. I feel like they are all going to hold me down and rip my clothes off and hurt me, just like Tre. I don't think I've ever wanted to be out of a place so badly.

When I don't find anybody, I decide to head out to the car and wait for them. When I get out there, I realize the door won't open. I don't feel safe out here, I want to be inside a small place, locked away from the outside which I now see is too big. Full of predators and prey. I want isolation, a safe spot. I pull on the door as hard as I can and eventually result to punching it, not because I think it will open. I'm taking all my anger out on that door for making my night harder by refusing to let me in. Because of my weak muscles, I don't make a dent. The car alarm doesn't even set off.

I crumple to the ground, hopeless, helpless. I don't think I've ever been so low. Tears fall from my eyes, for the first time in years I let myself cry. And I cry, and cry, and cry. Alone, just as I've always been.

**Awwwww her life tho L review? (Do it for Aline)**


	9. Chapter 8

**Okay so last Chapter Aline went through some stuff. This chapter, you're gonna see how she handles it. And other stuff. I would do a disclaimer but we all know I don't own Lab Rats so you know…Aline…**

**Aline:**

I run. Dash, sprint through into the midnight city. I don't stop when I bump into strangers, I don't care when I knock down a business man's papers and he turns and looks at me with a scowl. I just run, forgetting everything as it zips past view and disappears behind me. It doesn't matter, none of it matters. I make my way under Mission creek into the subways, still running into people on my way down the stairs, I don't stop until I make it to the tracks. It smells so metal down here. Stuffy and metal and…cold. Or is that just me?

I hear the rails screech as the train approaches. My heart is pounding against my chest and I just want it to stop. My limbs feel numb. It's like a revolutionary war, my body is fighting against my brain, but ultimately my head is in control. I step forward slowly, images of family flashing in my mind. Memories of Aunt Cecelia and Erin and I at the beach; my whole family on Christmas under the warm fire light. All these years I've never felt like I belonged. I've always been alone, until now I could have handled it. No problem was too big; I was fine holding all of it in. But this is something worse, something nobody can handle alone. Not even a stone hard soul like mine, we can be broken. It's possible.

One step closer. I tried telling them, I pleaded for help but nobody would listen. I even opened up to my mother but she always told me I was being ungrateful. She gave me a sob story about her upbringing and told me I was stupid for not seeing everything that I had. Once she caught me cutting myself with scissors. She told me I was weak and offered to cut me with a knife. That's not the not the part that got to me, my cousin stayed with us a few months ago. She had a history with her family that I didn't understand and I was sympathetic to that. But what got to me was how my mother saw she was cutting too, and she tried to console her. She told her it was wrong in a calm reassuring manner. She let her know the dangers of it. She called me stupid. She called me weak. She didn't want to help me; she never cared. No one ever does, no matter what they say.

Enough said, I clear my head of all thoughts and step toward the train. One step after another, one step closer to freedom. I'm so close, but then out of nowhere, as I step off the curb and near the cold metallic bullet of the train, somebody scream s and I'm wrapped in a strangers arms, flying towards the concrete.

At first I'm in shock, I don't know what to think. Then I look around and see the crowd gathered around me. Some of their mouths are gaped in horror, others are just staring at me with wide eyes of disbelief. The person who grabbed me is a man, his flannel jacket is cold against my skin. I hadn't realized how bitterly freezing it had gotten. I should have brought my coat. The man says nothing, as if he is too shocked to speak, I have no words either. Just the stolid feeling of death. On the inside I've perished yet my heart still beats. It's the worst feeling I've ever felt, the feeling of nothing at all.

Red lights and blue illuminate the scene like an Independence Day festival, only it's lacking the excitement and joy of another year. I lay flat on a stretcher; a blanket has been tucked around me securely. Under different circumstances I would have felt comfortable, but all I want to do right now is disappear. To shrink into nothing leaving just a trace of existence. I want to close my eyes and realize that this is just a nightmare. I'll wake up at home in my bed and none of this will have ever happened. Unfortunately, reality doesn't work like that. You live through hell and it doesn't change life around you. Time goes on even when you're gone. None of us matter, life goes on, and it won't ever stop. So why am I here? Why did it matter if I died on that track? Why did he stop me? What is _wrong _with him? What is it his business anyway weather I live or die? It's not like he cares about me, he doesn't even know my name.

A short haired brunette woman in a black leather jacket approaches me with a tall man, almost bald except for stubble on the sides of his head.

"Hi, I'm Rebecca. This is my partner detective Jenner." The woman says. I look between the two silently, wondering why they're telling me this or any of it matters. "Can you tell us your name?"

I don't say a word; I just stare beyond them hoping that the situation will somehow dissolve in my swearing of silence. They look at each other then back at me.

"We've called your parents." Rebecca says, "They're on their way now." For the first time in hours I feel my heart actually move. It seems to explode sending shivers down my body. My stomach turns to liquid. "Please don't tell them." I plead hoarsely, "They'll kill me."

They look between each other and then back at me. Detective Jenner looks softly.

"I have a daughter your age." He says.

_Why should I care? _I think.

"If I found out this happened to any of them, all I would want to do is help them. They're just going to be glad you're okay." He continues.

_You don't know them. _I think.

"My name is Aline Merrick." I say, maybe they can help me.

"Well, Aline, can you tell me where you live?" Rebecca asks, her voice is careful and light like she's talking to a child or a damaged person. Maybe she is.

"On Donnington and Parkview."

**All right I know this isn't my best work but it's the best I got for the time being. Tomorrow I'll do an extra special chapter. Still, I want to know what you guys think. Was it what you expected? Yes? No? Review!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Hey hey hey! So the last chapter probably left you thinking this girl is crazy, well that was only the beginning. Suspense…okay Chase, take over…**

**Chase**

I am so glad to be leaving. I pull out my phone and prepare to dial Aline's number when I look up and see a the road is lit like a carnival in 5-0 lights and Ambulances. What happened here? I get a bad feeling but then blow it off as a paranoid hunch. I turn back to my cell phone and watch the screen light up with Aline's picture and name. I don't realize I'm staring at it until the second ring when I put it up to my ear, subconsciously anticipating her bright and happy yet supremely sassy voice. After a few rings I anxiously glance at the gathering of police again. There's a worried churning in my stomach, but again I look away and wait for her to answer. Several rings later I do hear her voice but she still doesn't pick up the phone. I'm sent straight to voicemail.

_"Hey this is Aline's phone. If I don't answer it's either because I'm busy or I'm pretending to be…because I don't like you." _She giggles, _"Leave a message and I _might _get back to you. Or maybe not!"_

The message ends with her laughing and a beep. I stare at the phone, my breath picking up. She wasn't in the club, I looked everywhere and it's not like I can track her on by GPS. I call her one more time, nervously glancing at the ambulance and away. Again I'm sent to voicemail.

"Is she picking up?" Bree asks, a little slurred. She leans against Adam for support.

"I keep getting sent to voicemail." I respond, furrowing my brows at the incapable device.

"Maybe she already went home." Adam adds. I want to face palm, for some reason everything he says has that effect on me.

"She would've called or left a message." I say more surely than I am.

It's so much harder dealing with regular people. I let my eyes follow an approaching police car as it passes us and enters CSI crime scene over there. What ever happened has to be serious. Not serious enough for us to handle, but serious enough to pull half of MCPD out their homes at twelve o'clock midnight.

"What's going on over there?" I wonder out loud.

"I don't know. It looks like the party came out side. Am I right?" Adam lifts up a hand for me to slap but what I really want to do is smack his head. Couldn't he be serious just for a minute?

"You guys stay here. I'm going to go check it out." I say, leaving Adam and Bree with the car. I couldn't have a bunch of drunken teens talking to the police. Forget Davenport, we'll have much bigger problems.

I walk over to the scene; mentally praying I don't find what I am half expecting to. I join a group of curious bystanders look onto what looks like a scene from Law and Order. I push through the crowd trying to get as close as I can to see what's going on. I see a gurney with a girl, the only part of her I see is her blonde locks. Her face is turned toward the man and woman- I'm assuming are detectives- standing above her. They are talking about something but I can't hear from this spot. Curiously, I smooth my hair behind my ear turning on my super hearing.

_"Sweetheart, can you tell us what happened?"_

The girl is silent. I listen closer to see if I can pick up on low sounds she's making but I don't.

_"Aline?"_

_Aline! _I think horribly. It feels like every part of me is running, tying to leave my body and rush towards Aline. What happened to her? Is she okay? This never would have happened if I didn't leave her in there. And for Gabrielle? Guilt threatens to rip me apart, but I pull it together to get to her. I push through the crowd of people and slip past some officers and make my way over to the gurney.

"Aline!"

**Aline:**

"Aline!" I hear Chase's voice and almost cry. Why is he here? Does he know what happened? I really hope he doesn't. I might just have to do it again. "Aline are you okay?"

"Who are you?" Rebecca asks, all the softness gone from her voice replaced by a hard authoritative tone. I think of how Tre talked to me before…and I get angry. So angry. All it takes for me to open up is soft words and compassion. My naïve nature caused this mess; it's what landed me here. I don't want to know where it has planned for the future. I'm done talking to them. I'm done telling them things. Because just like Tre, their pleasant and caring appearance is just a façade. No one is sincere, innocence is a mask of deception. I'd know better than anyone.

"I'm her friend, she came here with us. Aline what happened? Are you alright?"

"Well I'm gonna need you to stand back right now. You'll a chance to talk to her at the hospital."

"No you don't understand I need her to tell me she's okay."

The fact that he's arguing for knowledge of my well-being warms me but my soul turns back cold when I remember.

"She's fine with us. Now go stand behind the line."

Though I don't look, I can feel Chase's eyes burrowing into my head trying to read my mind. I avoid his stare, knowing that one look into his pleading eye's will make me weak. I can't afford become that fragile and stupid girl I was before. She's caused enough hurt already.

**Okay not as special as I imagined but you know just be patient. It's gonna come. I'd like to thank my reviewers FOREVERLABRATSLOVER, Rita143, MyFourTris(love the name by the way, DIVERGENT FOREVER!), RomanianBionicGal, and sarangified. You guys are keeping this story alive. Love you! Crazy out!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Yooooo! So last chapter was kinda slow without much info, sorry about that. As they say, good things come to those who wait. I don't own the Lab Rats characters but everything else is mine. Review!**

**Aline:**

I managed to avoid much of the questioning. The perks of being a broken girl, people are too scared to break you further. At least the decent ones. I was happy to finally be alone in my hospital room. Rebecca said I needed rest, I think she got tired of aimlessly shooting for my death note story and decided to leave me alone for now. The only thing with being alone and silent is that it gives me a chance to dwell on the fact that this situation is real. It's not a movie or some Cold Case episode, this is my life. This is real.

**Bree:**

My head feels like my brain exploded. Just thinking sends a throbbing wave of pain through every nerve. I try to focus on Chase, he keeps getting up and pacing then sitting down and thinking. I've never seen him act like this before, he's never looked so worried. Of course pessimism and melodrama are his strong points, but this is…different. He isn't talking my ear off about how "this is bad, this is _so _bad" or actively planning the next move we take. He's looks patient, worried and anxious, but patient. I've never seen that in him before.

"Chase, are you alright?" I ask, trying to speak in spite the slurring numbness in my tongue.

"I don't think I'm the one you should be asking that question." He replies, walking back to me and across the room again. Even his voice is strange and new, not sarcastic, not superior. He speaks as if he's, dare I say, one of us. The followers. No, I don't dare say that, we don't follow him but he still leads us. He's acting like he's forgotten that.

"Well, Aline's in there getting help and the doctors won't let us see her yet. So I think it's fair for me to ask you." He walks back, scratching the back of his neck the way boys do. I always wonder why, is it the bad haircut?

"I'm fine." He stops in front of me to say, then continues pacing. I observe the way he moves; quick and spastic. Uncertain, confused. What's happening to him?

"You don't look fine."

He stops in front of me and looks, he looks like he's trying to decide what to say but nothing comes to mind. That would be a first. He plops down in the seat next to me, leaning his elbows on his knees. I put a hand on his shoulder.

"She's going to be okay." I say reassuringly, "The doctors said she's not hurt. She just…"

_Tried to kill herself. _I finish the sentence in my head. Saying it out loud won't make him feel any better. This whole thing is crazy. I mean, Aline seemed so happy, so fun. Why would she want to die? What could have happened to make her consider suicide? No, she didn't consider it, she _attempted _it.

"I left her there." Chase says, "I should have kept her with me."

"We don't know what happened. This might not have anything to do with the club. I'm sure she wouldn't decide to…do what she did because of loud music. There had to be something else, something before us."

He looks up, as if this got to him. I'd help him, at least a little, and in my warped state I can find pride in that.

**Chase:**

Bree was right, whatever pushed Aline to the edge it couldn't have been us or me. It doesn't make logical sense. I feel slightly better, but there's still something bothering me. I haven't known Aline long, a week to be accurate, but I've noticed a lot of things about her. She tries so hard to make people happy. She helped me with Gabriella, she stayed in ACID even when she was uncomfortable. She tolerated Adam's rude and unintelligible remarks and actions, better than we did. She lifted everybody up while she was drowning. She fought for everyone, she cried for everyone.

I'm not going to let her cry anymore. I'm going to be her shoulder, her cushion to land on. I don't know why I feel so wholly devoted to this girl, this girl I just met. This girl I barely know. For some reason I feel like I have to, from the first few minutes I knew her I couldn't be happy if she wasn't. She's such an angel, a beautiful lamb that landed on my lap and-

"What are you all doing here?" I turn around and see Aline and my heart skips a beat. Except she's taller and more lean, no. It's not Aline. It's her sister Erin and she looks worried. I swear those two are twins. "Where's Aline? Is she alright?"

"She's fine. The doctors said she needed some rest." Bree says, surprisingly straight. She just sounds tired now.

"Jesus. What happened?"

"We don't know. We just heard this man stopped her from walking off the 33rd." The way she said that so bluntly sends chills down my spine.

_Never again. _I think.

"Oh my god…" Erin's eyes water. "Why would she do this?"

For some reason I feel the same responsibility for her as I do Aline, when did my emotions become so out of control? Is this a glitch? I'll run it by Mr. Davenport later.

"I don't know why but whatever it is, it's not too late to fix it. She's _okay_. That means we get a second chance." I say.

"No. You don't understand-" she breaks off, shaking her head and taking a seat in the row opposite of ours. "So how long until we can see her."

We look between each other and shrug. She raises an eyebrow.

"You guys don't seem to know much."

I shrug again. "Not much more than you."

She leans her elbows on her knees and holds her head in her hands, disappearing in thought. I could tell by the look in her eyes she was thinking hard about something, I just wish I knew what.

Finally we're allowed to see Aline. Family is first. Erin said her parents were flying back from Australia and couldn't make it tonight so she went in alone.

**Aline:**

Erin walks in. Her grey sweats and sneakers let me know she spent no time on vanity when she left the house, which really means a lot coming from her. This is Miss Mission Creek 2011, miss Supermodel of The World Contestant, appearance isn't all she cares about but it definitely ranks high on the list. The fact that she blew it aside in order to get to me is touching and it makes me feel so guilty.

"Hey." She says carefully as if there's a sleeping bear in the room. Anything too loud or rash means all hell.

"Hey." I respond in a similar tone.

"How are you doing?"

I want to break down at that question. I can't straight up lie to my sister, but telling her the truth means telling the whole story. Tre's words creep into my head.

_"I wouldn't try and tell anyone. The judge is more likely to believe the pastor's son than some rich girl from out of town."_

There are no bruises or signs of restraint on me because I was drugged so I know he's right. They'd think I'm some melodramatic, attention-hungry, rich girl- especially after tonight. After tonight, they definitely won't believe me.

_Everything I do is a mistake._

"Aline?" I realize I haven't said anything yet. I look back at Erin who is already staring at me, her eyes are a mixture of worry and frustration and desperation. She's desperate to help me but I'm pulling away. My sister, the one who's been there for me when our parents weren't. The one who knows me better than anyone, better than me. The one who I tell my secret, my inner most personal thoughts. She's always been there, I don't know how sincere anyone else is but I know Erin is real. She wants to help me, she wants to be there. Tears fall down my eyes.

"Erin…" I start, trying to find the words. "Something happened…it's really bad."

She sits on the edge of the bed grabbing my hands in hers.

"Tell me Aline. Please."

I choke on my words; they don't want to come out at all. I breathe uncontrollably hard, my voice breaks into hiccups and it's hard to speak but I have to. I have to trust my sister. She grabs my face in her hands and wipes away my tears staring me deep in the eyes and pulling out the truth. Nothing to lose.

"I was raped."

**Ayyyyyeeee so there's the end. I'm starting to add more feelings between Aline and Chase for you guys, notice that? ;P Review!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Hiiiiiiiiii. So I don't have a lot to say now. Other than…eleven reviews! What?! My most ever! GO GRAVY GO GRAVY! You guys are awesome : ) specifically FOREVERLABRATSLOVER, Rita143, MyFourTris, RomanianBionicGal, sarangified, KrisKat, mFabulous15. You rock! Okay enough of my celebrating, go ahead Chase…**

**Chase**

When I walk in the room Aline's face is puffy and red and I know she's been crying. What did Erin say to her? What did they talk about? I guess I'll never know. She looks so tired, so sad but her eyes remain bright. It makes me want to wrap my arms around her and hold her forever.

I slowly make my way into the room, not knowing what to say or do. I have all these feelings in my stomach but I have no idea how to put them into action, this is all so new to me. I sit on the edge of her bed searching my brain for something funny or stupid, something to put a smile on her face, I'd do anything to see that smile.

"How are you?" Is all I can say, I wish I was better at this.

She smooths the bed sheets over her legs. "I'm okay." She says, even her voice is slightly broken. I tilt my head.

"Are you?"

She looks away from my face and says nothing. I have no idea what to say now. I don't want to seem pushy but I know there's something terribly wrong. Letting her hold it in is what got her into this mess.

Without thinking, I grab her hand, ignoring the small spark that travels up to my wrist. Aline finally looks at me; her eyes are shocked but soft.

"I'm sorry I left you. Back at the club. I should have stayed with you." Her breathing gets heavy and her eyes watery. She looks like she's struggling to hide something, like she wants to explode.

"Chase…I didn't do this because-"her voice breaks. She looks down, another limit. "It's not your fault."

"Then why did you do it?" the words fight their way out of my mouth. I hope I didn't step over any lines but at this point a little pushing might do her some good. She looks up; her eyes are wide in surprise like she wasn't expecting me to ask that. Again her eyes explore everywhere but mine.

"I don't know…" she says carefully, "I guess I was tired of everything. I was tired of fighting."

"Fighting? With who?"

She's silent for a second, looking down and letting her hair cover her sad expression. I push her mermaid locks behind her ear. My hand brushes her cheek, warmth overtakes my whole body. She looks up at me in a way no one has before. Her eyes are sad but there's something else in them. Hope? Trust? No, that's not right…but what is right? I hate not having the answer to things. Like this, she shakes her head and drops her eyes. But I'm desperate, whatever it is, its tearing her apart and I don't want to watch her try this again. What if she isn't saved next time? The thought is like a stab in the gut. I wouldn't let that happen. I stroke her cheek again, her eyes close and she buries her face in my palm. We sit there in silence for a long time. It's not awkward or repelling, it's isolated and I like it that way. Feeling like this, like we're the only two humans left on earth.

**Aline**

_Stupid stupid stupid! _I scold myself after Chase leaves. Why did I tell him all of that? 'I guess I was tired of fighting.' _Stupid._

When Adam and Bree came in the conversations weren't very special or long. They came in, asked if I was okay, I assured them I was, we exchanged some jokes but they seemed kind of estranged. I don't care, they don't need to think much of me. No one else does, no one except Erin. And Chase…as strange as it is, Chase seems to care.

_Seems to. _I think.

Don't be stupid Aline, you thought Tre was a good guy. And he…wasn't.

I'm allowed to go home in a few days, after a few "interviews" of me and my family. All the while I felt my father's drowning disappointment and frustration. He doesn't show it out right but I can always tell. I know him that well. I've been appointed a psychologist and my father even hired a man to follow me through the day to make sure I don't 'do anything stupid.' Might as well write it on my forehead "crazy emo chick!" He's a kind of short guy with broad shoulders and a black van dyke. He walks around in a black suit and is your typical men-in-black looking security guard. In hate him. He gives me _no _privacy, except in the bathroom of course.

The Davenports visited me once while I was on hospital arrest and let me know that they were grounded for breaking curfew which is why they hadn't seen me more often.

_Sure. _I thought. Chase told me about how they left Leo at the club the other night and had to drive all the way back just to find him passed out on the table with salacious images sketched all over his face in perma-ink. For the first time in a while I actually laughed. Only he could do that. He filled me in on school, and by school I mean Gabriella. The sound of her name coming out of his mouth makes me want to punch her so hard in her 'perfect' face you'd think she was related to Chaka Kahn. But the way he talked about her, it sounded like he was losing interest. I feel a sense of relief in that; it was getting annoying that whole thing with him and her.

"She's just so…" Chase scrunches his face trying to find a nice word to describe her.

"Heady?" I fill in. He looks at me and smirks.

"Feeling salty or what?"

I blush really hard and punch him in the arm. He laughs. "Yup. Definitely salty."

"Shut _up_." I slap his shoulder and push him really hard, once too hard and I end up on top of him. There we are, so close. My heart thuds like butterfly wings. Light and happy. His fingers sweep my hair behind my ear, his touch is magnetic. It's electric.

"You're beautiful." He whispers. My stomach turns to lead.

_"I wouldn't have left you."_

I push the rest of my hair behind my ear and sit up, my face is red as a strawberry.

"I'm sorry." He mumbles, flushing.

"No it's okay." My heart beat remains escalated but heavy as limestone.

_Don't be stupid, Aline. _I scold, _don't hurt yourself like that._

**Don't be angry, I needed to keep Aline in her guarded state because you know she just got assaulted and stuff like that so she's not gonna be like "Oh Chase I love you!" that quickly. In time, review! : )**


	13. Chapter 12

**Thank you to my reviewers you all know who you are, I would list you off but I'm sure you want to get to the story. Okay so yesterday I didn't really explain well what happened after the train incident so I'm sorry for that. This one I'll try to show you better. Alright Aline, action…**

**Aline**

I gather my books in one arm. People give me odd stares as they pass by my locker. I want to scream at them. _"Can I _help _you?!" _But my father would be less than pleased with me if that happened. Everyone in school knew about my little stunt. I don't care what they think of me, that's their business and I can't change that. But if I catch someone staring at me at lunch one more time I just might reach out and shove my burger down their throat. _"We're here to eat, not play iSpy."_

And Dyke, that's what I call my security guard because I refuse to call him Mr. Sharp. He's annoying and invasive so my respect for him is much less than minimal. If it weren't for his watchful eye and the somehow comforting company of Chase and his trio of siblings- well, duo and Leo, I have no idea how they work- I probably would have tried it again. They give me something to look forward to everyday. After school Chase takes me to these places (with Dyke of course) that I had never been to before, and this time he promises not to leave me alone. At first I was hesitant but he practically forced me to go. He begged me until I gave in, and I'm kind of glad I did. Today, he took me to Breckwalk, which is about 15 minutes from Mission Creek, and showed me the record store where we debated our favorite bands and records.

"How could you say Green Day is better than U2?" Chase argues. I shrug, searching through the band posters.

"Their music is way better. U2 is too techno for me."

"They are _not _techno."

"I could never tell."

"Oh, you're funny. I haven't seen Green Day in the Rock Star Hall of Fame."

I look at him over my shoulder. "Keep it up. They've been nominated this year and when they win you're gonna have _nothing _to say." I walk to the other side of the rack filled with CD's. I see all my favorite artists: Evanescence, Skillet, Escape the Fate, Nickleback, and Green Day. And U2. Chase follows me speaking.

"_If _the win. Which I highly doubt they will with their last two albums flopping on the charts."

"That's the problem with you. You doubt. Have a little faith." I pick up Skillet's _Awake and Alive _examining the front cover, searching through the songs on the back.

"I will _not _put my faith in some mediocre play group I don't even want to win." I push his shoulder.

"Hey. You're mediocre." Not my best argument but it's what I spit.

"Wrong again. _I _am amazing."

"Cocky much?"

"Little bit."

I shake my head laughing and turn back to the music. I put back the CD I had and pick up one from Nickleback. I skim the song titles.

"Oh my gosh I love this song." I say as I examine the back.

"What song?"

"Come listen." I pull out my ipod and earphones. He puts his face really close to mine so he can hear. I press play and the song "Far Away" by Nickleback comes on.

The soft guitar is calming in a way that makes me feel like I'm in a dream. I close my eyes letting the music speak to me. Letting it grab hold of me and take me away from everything, that's what it normally does but it's not doing that, not now. I feel Chase's eyes watching me closely. Not invasive or pressuring, but admirably and kind. I look at him and grin, one of my favorite things is to share my music with my friends. Though they normally hate it and only pay attention until the chorus before backing out. Chase seems into it though.

_ I love you, I have loved you all along  
>And I miss you, been far away for far too long<br>I keep dreaming you'll be with me and you'll never go  
>Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore.<em>

I look back at the screen and watch the title moving by. Nickleback Far Away Nickleback Far Away. Over and over and over, it seems to never end. I still feel Chase's eyes on me. I turn my head all the way, our face is so close. My brain is screaming to look away again and to stay that way, but I can't move. I don't want to move. I just want to stay here, I don't want anything else. My whole body heats, my heart is running a marathon. I forget the music is playing, Chase leans his head in slowly and carefully but vaguely confident. The total opposite of Tre- I breathe deep and turn away.

"Hey look at this one." I pick up a random CD, which just happens to be Green Day. "Uno. This one's good." I say as if that moment didn't just happen. But we both know it did, my head is still a scribble I can barely navigate through. He laughs supportively but it's kind of sad. My heart wrenches.

"Yeah…" he agrees somberly. "This is the one I said flopped."

I push his shoulder again, looking back at the CD. This time not to look at the song list but to have something other than Chase's sad face to focus on. He looks at CD's too and we're practically silent for the rest of the time.

When we walk back, I can't take this distance between us. I need something-anything- to pull us together again. Something…anything.

"That night…" I start, deciding if I really want to say this or not, "That night I…tried to commit suicide I…I just kept thinking…"

Chase kicks a rock in his path, he doesn't look at me but I know he's listening. He's always listening.

"I kept thinking…I felt so alone. Like no one ever wanted to…like no one ever cared. You know. Being from a family with…with _everything_…people always expect you to be a certain way- to _feel _a certain way. So I did, at least I let them think I did."

He's still not looking at me, I have to go deeper. But just how deep?

"It killed me. It was like trying to fight off a shark. You're drowning, you're screaming, you're fighting yet nobody sees you, nobody hears you, nobody helps…at some point you just give up. You stop fighting, you let the shark win, because you realize, what are you fighting for? Even if you do win you still lose because you end up right back where you were you started. It's like an endless cycle of smiles and hurt. A masquerade of black and white-"

He stops abruptly, grabbing my arm to a halt. He turns around, facing me towards him. He rests his hands on my shoulder. His brows are furrowed in seriousness.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" He asks, the concern he feels is unmistakable, it's written all over his beautiful green eyes. I shrug trying to seem noncommittal but I am anything but. I've never seen him- or anyone- look at me so hard. So serious, so worried. Not even my mother when she first came to visit me in the hospital. Chase's eyes have a quality that can turn me to stone, something that forces the truth out of me, no matter how much I'm willing to tell.

"I guess I was just scared…people always say to be honest and speak your mind, but whenever I do they just use it against me." I shake my head breaking his gaze so that I don't have to say more. I'm doing it again, I'm trusting too much. He lifts my chin up so that I'm looking directly into his eyes. I felt like melting, like letting him hold me up and seeing how much I can really rely on him. They're so soft, so comfortable, they remind me of home. The kind of home where people go to and they feel happy, like they belong. They feel warm, they feel…home. We stand there for what is only seconds but feels like long minutes. He runs his finger up my cheeks grabbing hold of my entire face. I put both my hands over his wrists, rubbing my thumbs into his skin.

"You can't trust everyone, Aline. Sometimes it is hard to find that person or those people, but when you do you can't push them away."

I feel like there's an ambiguous meaning to that. Am I pushing him away? I don't want to, but then I don't want to get too close. But then, being close is all I want, this so confusing. And confusing is dangerous. Curiosity killed the cat.

"How do I know when I find that-those people? What if I let the wrong people in?"

He leans his forehead on mine, our noses touch. "Sometimes, you have to have a little faith. Not everything can be chrystal clear. At least not at first." He thinks for a second. "But then, of course," he adds, "you can always ask. It seems easier." My fingers tremble but I remain cool.

"Okay then." I say calmly, "Chase, can I trust you?"

He inhales. "What do you think?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to?"

"I want to."

"But?"

How'd he know that was there? Ugh. I think. I do want to trust him and I do trust him, more than most people. But I don't think I can tell him why I'm so guarded, I can't tell anyone. I wish I hadn't told Erin.

"But...I'm still afraid. Trust is the hardest thing to earn but the easiest thing to lose."

"So I won't lose it, I promise. I'll keep it locked up in a safe place and I'll hide the key. Somewhere special, like your music box."

"How'd you know about that."

He smiles. "I pay attention." He say. "I care."

At first I'm shocked but then I grin, wrapping my arms around his neck.

_I care._

To my surprise, he plants his lips on my forehead and then my nose. He stops there, but I wish he wouldn't. I don't want him to hold back anymore, but I'm not sure if I can go any further on my own.

When I get home, I slump everywhere I go. When I close the door behind me I lean against it. I drop my bag by the door. All I can think about is Chase and everything he said. Should I trust him? Should I not? I don't know, all I know is he drives me crazy. Trusting him would be crazy, maybe that's exactly what I need to feel normal again. I dreamily float through the living room and head towards my room, when someone turns on the light. I jump in surprise, looking around to see who it was. It's my father. He sits in the armchair in the room, a cup of wine in his right hand. He stares at me.

"You're late." He says.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"Where's Micheal?" aka Dyke.

"I don't know we…lost him." I want to laugh at that.

"You think that's funny?" He stands I gives you all I can to keep you happy, to keep you safe and you just throw it all away."

He's talking about my suicide attempt.

"Dad I-"

"Don't interrupt me Aline." He walks close to me; I back up slowly as he walks forward. "You are the worst human being in the world you know that? I give you everything- more than you want, more than you need- there are girl everywhere that would kill to be where you are."

"You don't understand I-"

"_Shut_ up."

I jump at the venom in his voice, he grabs my jaw, not soft and sweet like Chase but hard and painfully.

"You think this is easy?"

"No I-"

"You think I enjoy busting my ass every day to give you and your sister and your mother and your brother everything you ever wanted just to have you act like you don't appreciate what I do. Do you have any idea how _infuriating _that is?!"

"Please dad you're hurting me!"

"You're lucky I'm not wringing your neck!" he throws me back and I stumble, falling back against the nightstand letting the 17th century heirloom vase shatter on the floor.

Tears roll down my eyes, I stare at my father with such fear- not fear of a father, fear of an enemy. Fear of the devil himself.

"I'm sorry I displeased you." I choke out, my whole body is trembling in fear.

"Who were you with?" he asks, his voice suddenly controlled. I stand blank.

"Who were you out with Aline?" He annunciates every word. I'm still frozen, why is he talking to me like this? What will he do if I tell him about Chase?

"Answer me!" He snaps. I squeeze my eyes anticipating a swing that thankfully doesn't come.

"I was with Chase Davenport." I mumble, her doesn't hear me.

"What?"

"Chase Davenport." I say more clearly. I hear my heartbeat clearly in my ears.

My father is silent, he stares at me with such disappointment in his eyes. And then he finally speaks.

"You won't be seeing them again. Any of them. Clear?"

I have so many arguments in my head but I'm too afraid to speak them. Who knows how far he'll go this time? I bow my head in surrender.

"Yes."

"I want you to clean this up." He motions towards the broken glass beneath my feet. "Then go to bed."

When he walks back away and out of site I fallt o my knees, ignoring the pain of the glass driving into my flesh. I pile up the pieces with my hand despite the risks. I want it to cut my wrists, I want there to be an end to this. This vase has been in our family since the early days, it's been a part of us. Now, just like our family, it's broken and I'm left picking up the broken pieces.

**This is a long chapter. Review? ;)**


	14. Chapter 13

**Her life sucks right? Rich people don't have it all. But I guess Aline could have told you that. Let's hear what she has to say…**

**Aline**

It's not fair. None of it's fair. I want to drive my names into a hard surface, take something hard and put it to my father's bearded face. I wanted him to physically feel the pain I feel inside. I wanted him to feel pain, I don't care how much. I just wanted to be the one to cause it. My sobs had become louder; I frustratingly scrub the floor where my blood stains it. I'm in the midst of my thoughts when I hear the door open and close. Footsteps head towards the living room, a specific sound I haven't heard in many months. One that before recently, I never would have guessed that I would miss.

_Ethan._

I'm frozen, not knowing whether I should feel happy he's back or angry at my 'father'. He drops the keys where the vase was.

"Aline?" He says. I haven't heard his voice in so long. I guess they don't have phones at DuPont.

"Hey Ethan." I say trying to sound cheerful but I just sound scary. Like the lady in white, a demon possessed child in a horror movie. "You're back."

"What happened here? Are you okay?"

I don't look at him, I don't want him to see my bruises or the blood smeared all over my hands and face from wiping tears.

"Would it kill you to say hello?" The anger I feel is slipping in my voice making my words irritable.

"I'm sorry." He says calmly, "Hello Aline."

"Hi." I say again, forgetting I've already said it.

I'm facing away from him but I hear his feet shift uncomfortably on the ground.

"Are you okay?"

"Of course. I'm perfect." I spit the word 'perfect' harder than I planned to. "How was Dupont? Better than Mission Creek?"

"I guess. The students were annoying though, too pretentious for me." He sounds suspicious.

_Of course it's better. Anywhere is better. Afghanistan is better. _I think bitterly.

"Oh," I say intrigued, "How so?"

"I don't know they just…didn't work for me…Aline, what's going on?"

**Ethan**

I don't know what I've come home to, but I don't like it.

"Nothing is going on, Ethan. Why are you acting so weird?"

_Oh I'm weird? _I think.

As Aline speaks, she sounds distant like a ghost. It sends chills through my blood like ethanol.

"Aline." I say carefully, I catch sight of red below her knees. I step forward to get a better glimpse of the crimson carpet when Aline speaks up, startling me.

"_What?_" her voice snaps, what is going on with my sister?

"What are you doing?" I ask annoyed at her for acting so spectral.

"Dad had a little accident. He told me to clean it up." She sounds like a damaged child now. Her voice broad and factual. Why would our father have her clean up his mess?

"Where's Gabriel?" I ask, that's supposed to be his job and she's doing it all wrong. With her fingers and hands, not a broom and a dust pan. Something is terribly wrong with her, it's frightening.

She shrugs, truly indifferent.

"Who knows? I guess he just disappeared. People do that sometimes." She plays hazily with a glass shard. She reminds me of a mental patient from one of those horror movies.

"Go to bed Aline." I say, "I'll clean this up."

"No." she says firmly. "Dad wanted me to do it. You don't want to make him angry."

"Aline, it'll be fine. Just go. I'll handle it." She freezes for a secong, it's like someone just paused the movie. Then she drops the glass.

"Okay." She says, fragile and light. She stands slowly. "Okay." She breath.

I step forward trying to get a look at her face without touching her. I'm afraid she'll lash out at me if I get too close. I don't know if I expect to see a burnt, disfigured, demonic face instead of Aline's, but her long blonde hair shields away anything. What I do see on her face is more red. I slowly reach out for her hair trying to push it out of her face and see what lies behind it but she quickly turns away.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She says, sounding like herself again, and she walks down the hall towards the stairs. I'm left wondering if that just happened. Wondering what was wrong with her, what had gotten into my little sister? I guess I'll see about it tomorrow. I dip down to the pile she made and jump at the voice of another.

"I wouldn't ignore that." Gabriel shows up, he stands half in the dark kitchen silhouetted by light. He saw something. I think about shaking him down but his answers' not a good as Aline's so I put him down as a last resort.

"I wasn't planning on it."

**Okay I know this isn't very exciting but it's the best I can do right now (I have to write a three page script for playwriting class by tomorrow eiik!) BUT the last chapter was extra-long and extra special so I hope that makes up for it. In the mean time PLEASE keep reviewing because you all keep the story going when you review. Peace!**


	15. Chapter 14

**Heeyyyy sorry it's been a while I've been working on this play for school and it has been a time cruncher. Ugh. But fear not I'm back now and I heard someone say they thought I should add more LB character POVs so I will. Alright anything else…yes actually. Now if you review I'll message you a preview of my next story. But don't worry; this one won't be over anytime soon. Alright Chase you have the floor…**

**Chase**

Aline, to me, was a slap in the face from the beginning. Literally. I remember, she was walking out of Mrs. Sidell's Lit with her face buried in a book. She wasn't paying any attention to where she was walking, she just kind of went. Then she tripped over the raised floor, where a door must have been before, and dropped everything, yet maintaining her balance. Papers flew everywhere, I looked around to see if anyone was going to help her pick them up but everyone just ignored her like she was a phantom. So I made my way over, collecting the papers that were farthest away. I curiously- and instinctively- glanced at them. They weren't homework, at least I don't think. They had big titles on the headings. _Fifteen _and _Make it in America _were the titles, they looked like poems. I handed them over to her as she stood back up.

"Thank you so much." She said a little flustered, there's a ghost of a laugh in her voice and a half smile on her face.

"No problem." I said. _She's pretty_, I thought. It was more of an observation than an admiration at the time. I bent down and picked up her book, it was _The War of Worlds_ by H.G. Wells.

"War of Worlds. This one's good." I nodded, flipping through the pages of the book.

"You've read it?" She said, something in her eyes lit up, a spark of interest. The way Bree glows when I ask her about her favorite celebrity or the oh-so-legendary _Divergent _craze.

"Of course. Though I don't agree with his concept of incursion. His ideas weren't very well supported by logical evidence and to be honest they were kind of ignorant. I've seen better defense strategies from five year olds on Christmas who want to get their pictures taken with Santa."

She laughs, I've never made a girl laugh before. Truly and honestly laugh, except for maybe Bree. I feel a twinge of pride and excitement. First thing I noticed about Aline, she's very giggly. Just bubbling in life and joy. It was somewhat attractive- and scary, but mostly intriguing.

"It was 1897, they still used trenches." She said defensively. Now it was my turn to be interested, I was amazed to find a girl who actually knew how to debate warfare.

"True, but I still didn't like the ending. How they-"

"Hush! Don't say anything!" At first I was kind of shocked by the harshness in her voice but the knot in my stomach loosens when she dissolved into laughter, light and reassuring. "I'm Aline."

"Chase." I stuck out my hand like I've seen Mr. Davenport do when he was meeting new people, her tiny hands fit perfectly in my palm. My hand tingled up to my wrist, the way it did at the hospital, and I ignored it figuring it was just a minor glitch.

Then the bell rang, I winced at the slight pain in my ears. Though I've conditioned myself to the bell I still feel a stab in my ears every time it blares. It's nothing I can't handle. Aline looks past me with a look of horror.

"Shoot! I'm gonna be late!" She turns to her locker, which just happen to be on the wall in between us. She throws the door open and I see a flash on light before an explosion of pain erupts on my face. I'm too surprised at first to realize her locker door had collided with my face. When I finally opened my eyes I saw Aline covered her gaping mouth with both hands, her wide eyes are wider with surprise and guilt.

"I am _so _sorry!" she says grabbing my hand gently, there goes that tingle again.

"No it's okay. I'm fine." I say as innocuously as I can. Really I am, or I will be. My chip grants me RCR, or rapid cellular regeneration, cutting my healing time by more than 60%, but it still hurts now. She succeeds in pulling my arm from my face and on my fingers I see a thin layer of crimson. It's blood. _My_ blood. I've never seen it like this before, coming out of my body from anything but a syringe. It's…strange. Aline looks so guilty she could burst into tears, this tiny ray of sunshine was being covered by rain clouds. It was almost heartbreaking to see this girl cry.

"Oh my god…" she said, she sounded like she felt like a loser, I didn't want that.

"It's okay." I said again, but it didn't look like it was helping. How do you comfort a girl near tears? "I should probably get to the nurse. Come with me, they'll give you a pass so you won't be marked tardy." My voice was softer than I'd expected, a warm feeling heated my chest and came out my mouth with every word.

Some of the worry left her face, replaced by a half smile. "Okay." She said, kind of small. It amazed me how badly she had felt for that tiny little accident. Now I wonder if that was her actually letting out what she was already feeling inside. I'll never know and there's no point in asking. Wow, that's my first time ever saying that. I guess there really is a first time for everything.

I slug my way through the front door, being with Aline is emotionally exhausting. Sometimes I ask myself is she really worth all of this, but then a quiet-yet ultimately more powerful- part of me snarls "_Duh you idiot._" I think about just giving up and moving on with my life, getting back to normal and the idea seems to punch me in the gut. Whatever my brain is thinking is clearly not in accordance to the rest of my body. This is crazy, I need to talk to Mr. Davenport about this.

_Tomorrow. _I think. All I want to do now is go to sleep. I head down to the lab and when the doors slide open I find Adam, Bree and Mr. Davenport all standing around Mr. Davenport's computer and I already know sleep isn't coming soon if at all tonight.

"Chase!" Mr. Davenport exclaims, he hurries over and grabs my arm pulling me back into the group. "Where have you been? We've been calling you non-stop."

"I was with Aline." I say trying to pull my arm from his grasp. I'm fully capable of walking five feet across the room by myself.

"Who?" He says, his face is squinted with irritation and urgency, I feel a little irritation being that he doesn't remember his work partner's daughter.

"Merrick." I remind him. His eyes drift away for a while as he tries to recall, I swear if he's not thinking about money, how to spend his money, or what great top will match his new dye job I'm sure it never crosses his mind. He shakes his head, giving up, and turns back to his computer.

"Whatever, it' not important. _This _however…"

He pulls up a hologram of a flat blue screen. Images and captions pop up over it's surface; pictures of an official looking building in aerial view and profile and multiple gruesome photos. Bodies- about three, two men and a woman, all of them look around the ages of seventeen through twenty- lay in awkward positions in one, sprawled out on the white tile floor. Pools of blood spill underneath them. In another one there are dozens of corpses. They sit in chairs and against the wall huddled together, red splatters all their clothes. Another one a single man without his shirt laid out in the grass, red. A small group of children, red. Red, red, red, red, red. I feel dizzy, bile starts to rise in my throat but I force it down.

"What _is_ this?" Bree sounds incredulous, the same way I feel.

"This," Davenport starts slowly, softly. This disturbs him too. "Is the work of the Judex Mafia. They're the worst group of organized criminals since Murder Inc. These were taken last week at the Maze Bank in Carrara. 79 people were killed, including 14 children."

My throat is dry and my brain is lead as I process this information. Fourteen children. Seventy-nine total casualties. Who would be sick enough to do something like this?

"Why are you showing us this?" I ask. The police normally handle cases like this, this is out of our domain.

"Three hours ago the MCPD thought they had a lead on the Judex location. They sent in a team to shake them out but it turns out they were walking straight into a trap. The entire building collapsed on top of them, half the city's police force was taken out. With that many gone they've left us vulnerable. It wouldn't be that hard to strike here next. At first, I wanted to keep you out of it in order to preserve our secret but it looks like doing nothing isn't an option now. The government can't stop these gangs of killers, you three are the only ones left who can catch them in their tracks. All aboard?"

The three of us exchange looks. We've dealt with serious missions before, all involving life and death. But never ever have we handled murder. It should be easier, these are humans not complicated machines, just extremely cunning humans. Still, a bad feeling pulls at my stomach threatening to spill out my lunch.

"I'm in." Bree speaks up first, her unassertive expression turns hard and tough.

"I'm in, too." Adam says, and I'm happy he's finally taking this seriously.

"Me too." I say finally, if Adam and Bree can do it, so can I. And we're not going to be alone, we have each other just as we always have.

"Great." Mr. Davenport pulls up another screen, I'm thankful the gory images were gone but I know I should get used to it. Soon those pictures will be reality, right in my face. The thought is sickening. Two mug shots of men pop up on the screen. One man has black grey hair that I believe is pulled back in a ponytail and shows a great deal of his forehead, which is creased with age. His features are sharp in a way that could be misleading. He looks like a criminal, but like he could get away with it. A ghost of stubble decorates his jaw. His skin is olive but flushed and his eyes….they're green. Much like mine but somehow they're harder. He stares into the camera innocuously as if the fact he is in custody doesn't faze him, but in his eyes are something else. A promise for revenge? I wish I was better at reading faces. The other man is bald with pale skin and a brown mustache. He looks a little intimidating compared to most people but in a bigger-than-you kind of way. Not really that menacing.

"These are the men we currently have in custody. They were there the night of the massacre. We've already tried interrogating them but they didn't know much. At least that's what they've told us."

"And you don't believe them?" Bree intervenes as if it's a known fact yet she's still unsure.

"Well let's just say they haven't gotten on the good side of trust so no. Either way, I don't think we'll be getting much from them."

"So what do you want us to do?" I ask.

"A majority of the gang members we found dead in Carrara were adolescents. When we asked Micheal and Kane about it-" I assumed those were their names. "-they mentioned how they had been recruiting minors. They had no information on the next location so for now I need you to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. The answer could be right under our noses, we just have to look harder."

We all nod in agreement.

"Alight." He says and stares at the pictures. Something flashes on his face for a second, a gave look maybe. His look is cold as theirs but it goes away quickly. The images disappear and the lab becomes dull again.

"Get to bed." He instructs, "It's late and you all have school tomorrow."

Hallelujah. I am so ready to go to bed. The three of us go to our separate capsules, mine in the middle of them all. It doesn't take long for me to go to sleep. Before drifting off, I wonder what we'll find out tomorrow. What we'll see when we walk those halls and pay close attention to our peers, and at that thought I think of Aline and seeing her tomorrow. With that thought, the stress of the night dissolves in my chest and I find myself drifting off into a deep dreamless sleep.

**Okay so new problems, this is gonna blow up I'm telling you right now. SPOILER ALERT! Maybe…We'll see. Read and review and you get a preview of my next story. Later Beeez!**


	16. Chapter 15

**Hey! Not gonna say much this time. Just- on a totally unrelated topic- anyone heard the Divergent soundtrack? It is…AMAZBALLS! I can't wait for the movie next week! Okay back to the story, Chase…**

**Chase**

I stand by Aline's locker waiting for her to come by. The anticipation of seeing her sends an energizing wave through my body, I really needed that. Especially after last night, I was dying of fatigue this morning. Now I'm glowing like a Christmas tree.

Aline walks to her locker, her binders and books held close to her body. She doesn't look at me.

"Hey." I say, my face lights up with a smile. Hers is kind of disturbed, but then it always seems to be that way these days. I just have to appeal to her bright side.

"So I changed my mind." I say being purposely vague waiting for her to press me for information, but she doesn't. She opens her locker an starts slamming books in as if sees in a hurry to get somewhere. I tell myself this is normal.

"About taking Gabriella to the dance. She's not really my type." She doesn't say anything, just goes through her backpack for her school supplies. I get a bad feeling. I clear my throat.

"So…" I try to clear my head of all the nervous jitters that scream in my head. All the ideas of rejection that clog my throat and keep me from speaking and just go. "I was wondering if you wanted to go with me instead."

She winces, that's a bad sign. She stops moving for a second then speaks:

"I can't. I have piano this Friday."

"The dance is on Saturday."

"I have…rehearsal."

"Oh. For what?"

"I have…a play. A musical."

She closes her locker.

"Oh. When is it?" I ask, trying not to sound too skeptical.

"I…it's nothing. Just something my mom made me do. You don't have to go."

It's like the words are squeezing my lungs. The truth of rejection hits my gut like a hammer, knocking out all the air. I know she's lying, suddenly my self-pity turns into anger.

"If you didn't want to go you could have just said so." I say.

"It's not that, I-"

"No, it's okay. I'm just glad I came to you first. At least now I know I have a date that actually wants to go with me."

I walk away, ignoring her when she says my name. For the first time since I've met her I don't care how she feels because she clearly didn't care about me.

I walk into the cafeteria and fall onto the chair, ignoring the questioning looks Adam, Bree and Leo give me.

"Ummm…" Leo starts, "I'm not a psychologist or anything, but you seem to be a little more downbeat than normal."

I have no patience right now, I feel like Spike is one heart beat around the corner so I try to stay calm. I feel like I could break something or just cry. As much as I hate to admit it, I feel like crying. This is crazy, my emotions are running wild and I have no idea how to control them anymore. What happened to me? Was it the Fruity Loops I ate earlier? I knew sugar was evil, which explains everything. Why my hearts been jumpy and my mind so disorganized. Why my emotions have been off wack. I need a celery stick…

"Yea," Bree agrees, "What's up with you?"

"There's something wrong with me." I say finally.

"Yea we get that." Bree says, she's joking. Seriously? Apparently not. Seriously, I mean.

"I'm serious, ever since that night in ACID I've been feeling…strange."

"Strange how?" Bree asks.

"Like…it's been hard to think straight. My heart beats a mile a minute every day and I can't shake this hollow feeling in my stomach."

"Are you pregnant?" Adam asks. I just want to slap some sense in to him, but I'd have to do a lot of slapping.

"No. That's not even possible!" I say exasperatedly. He shrugs.

"And how long have you been feeling like this?" Bree sounds like she knows, she just needs confirmation. The way I sound when I'm looking for a loophole in the law.

"I said since ACID, but it's really closer to the dinner at the Merrick's." That sounds like a movie, a tragic comedy is what it is.

Bree's face breaks into a mischievous smile. She thinks she knows, and I don't think I'm gonna like her answer.

"That was the same night we met Aline. And the night she-" she breaks off, we don't like to talk about that night. "Yea. You wanna know what I think?"

"I'm not sure…" I say carefully.

"I think you're _in love._" She elbow bumps me. I scoff.

"What? No way." I say surely, more surely than I am.

"I see the way you look at her, it's the same way you _used _to look at Gabriella. And you wanna know something else?" She bends down to my ear, again with the bad whispering, "she looks at you the same way."

I catch my breath. "You're crazy."

"No actually," Leo chimes in, "she has a point. I felt that way when I first met Janelle. And you two do spend a lot of time together."

"And when we were at the hospital, you looked like you were about to explode waiting to hear from Aline. Face it Chase, you're in love."

"_You're _in-sane."

Bree sighs. "You'll see. Just wait."

"Even if I did…_love_ her it wouldn't matter. She won't even go to the dance with me."

"I thought you were going with Gabriella." Adam says.

"I am." I say, I'm not very happy about it.

"Okay…" He's confused, thank god for once he doesn't say anything about it.

**Aline**

Today was horrible. I tried catching Chase's eye or sending him an apologetic look but he doesn't look at me. He doesn't talk to me, he doesn't even try to. I should be happy, it makes my job easier. He's safe and so am I. That's good right? It doesn't feel that way. The thought of him hating me makes me want to spontaneously combust and then shrink into nothing. He's the only one who doesn't look at me like I belong in an asylum. He stares at me, but not like I'm crazy. Like I'm precious, special…beautiful. Like he cares for me, like he's sincere. I was wrong, he's been trying to help me and I've been pushing him away. Possibly the only one- other than Erin- that isn't false. That means everything they say, that would never give up on me. I had that, I lost it.

I walk through the front door leaving my broken soul outside and entering into a new one. Physically everything looks normal, elegant. Bach plays all throughout the house, it's volume is low so you can hear it but only if you're not talking.

I peer around the foyer into the hallway, murals and paintings decorate the walls on either side, but I don't see anybody.

"Mom." I call into nothing, "I'm home."

There's no reply. She must be in a different part of the house. I start towards the art room, I need to work on my piano. I wasn't lying when I said I had piano lessons, or about the musical. It's just the dates were a little bit off. I was ecstatic when Chase asked me to the dance, but I was miserable knowing that I can't say yes. I should have said yes. Despite my father I should have.

As I near the living room I start to hear voices. My parents, and someone else. A few someone else's. I curiously detour through the kitchen, narrowing my eyes as I get closer to the family room.

"…you'd think they'd come with a return policy." My father says, everyone in the room starts to laugh. I see a man with brown hair and a black suit, a woman that reminds me of a young Hilary Clinton and…a boy but I can't see his face, it's obscured by his father's head. I continue forward. As I come close to the visitors I see who they are. Or at least the boy. It can't be, but why are they in my house. It feels like my body explodes but is still intact. I want to run, but my legs are frozen and I wouldn't get the oxygen to my lungs anyway.

At that moment, the most inconvenient of all time, my mother sees me.

"Aline. I didn't know you were home. When did you get back" She says, her British accent on again like an accessory.

"A couple minutes ago." I just barely get out. Tre looks at me; he smiles as if we'd never met.

_Oh we've met. _I think. There's a display of 15th century swords on the wall above the chimney to my left. I consider grabbing one and cutting him into tiny pieces. I want him to hurt, just like I do every day.

"Aline, this is Pastor White and his family. Joan, Trevor, this is Aline."

**I'm gonna go ahead and end it right here because this is already really long. You didn't think he was gonna come back did you? She should have killed him….don't forget to review and you get a preview of my next story "Summer Song". Alright, I'm out! (DIVERGENT FRIDAY! AYEEE!)**


	17. Chapter 16

**Okay I know you all probably forgot about me, but I'm BACK! YEA! Long story, lots of work and all that. Yea…any way I'm sure you don't care, so here's Aline…**

**Aline:**

_Why?! Why here?! Why now?! _My brain begins to panic. I stare at my unwelcome guests masking the hate in my eyes, but I don't smile. I can't, it's viscerally impossible. Joan sticks out her hand.

"Hello Aline. It's nice to meet you." She says. I stare at her hand for a second, contemplating if I want to touch the hand of my rapists creator. It's not the same but it is, her blood runs through his veins which is enough for me. I feel my mother's eyes on me, however, burning in the back of my head.

_Shake her hand. _She says, her hospitable accent gone. I reach out and grab Joan's hand obediently.

"It's nice to meet you, too." I reply, distantly.

"You have a lovely daughter, Ella." Joan says to my mother as if I've somehow disappeared into another universe. "How old are you?" I realize she is talking to me now. I straighten my back.

"Fourteen." I say as dignified as possible. "I'll be fifteen in May."

Joan looks incredulous. "Really? I'm glad you told me, I would have thought you two were more like sisters." She says referring to my mother. The two coon over age and other women subjects and I tune out. All of my attention is focused on my assailant. The boy I wish was dead stands more than alive, less than three feet away from me. Too close, I think, too close.

He doesn't look at me; he stands patiently waiting to be addressed by his mother. It makes me sick. He looks nothing like he did at the club. His ripped jeans and gray tank are replaced by a deep red collared shirt buttoned up to the last three or four, popping out at the top and exposing his tan and defined clavicle. He is wearing jeans, but they are not ripped or faded but perfectly blue- like a boiling geyser- and straight. Pressed to perfection. His blond hair is combed flat and neatly, abandoning the messy bad-boy style he had that night. If I was someone else- someone stupid, someone ignorant- I would have thought he was very attractive. He looks like a prince, like a perfect gentlemen. The fact sends waves of uncontrollable fury through my veins like poison. Like a disease making me violent and irrational. I want to kill him, I want more than anything in this world to watch him bleed out from under me. To watch his soul leave his body as the devil tears him down to hell where he belongs. Or I want him arrested, but that's clearly out of option.

Finally his eyes meet mine, his polite smile climbs his cheeks into a slight smirk. He raises his eyebrows as if to say 'hello again.' I have this impulse to lash out at him but I keep calm, filling my burning lungs with seemingly cool air. I squeeze my hands into fists at my side to keep them from shaking.

_You're a coward. _I silently curse him. _A waste of a man. God clearly had no part in making you, you're the devil's child._

I have so many things going through my mind as we lock eyes. He kisses the air at me and I want to scream. He's taunting me, I know, and it's working. It's working well.

"Aline, have you met my son?" Joan cuts us out of our world. Our dismal world of hell.

"No, I haven't." I reply. She steps aside, pushing Tre closer to me as I fight the urge to retreat.

"Trevor, why don't you introduce yourself?"

He sticks out his hand. "Trevor White." He says politely, there's something in his voice though, clearly only I picked up on it.

"Yea I kinda got that." I say vindictively. My mother clears her throat and I hear all of the egregious remarks in her cough. "Aline Merrick. If we're stating the obvious."

"Why don't we sit?" My mother says hastily, the sharpness in her tone apparent to only me, and possibly my father if he's even paying attention. He seems wholly devoted to a theological debate with Tre's father, or should I say the devil's sperm bank.

_Since when is dad religious? _I wonder, but the question is squashed by heavier matters. Like my rapist and his possibly sadistically secret family. We do sit; everyone sits on the big curvy couch that always reminded me of a worm in the rain. The alive ones before they inevitably are squashed. I sit on the loveseat adjacent to them longing for isolation until the unthinkable happens- though surprisingly believable and unfortunately foreseen- Tre thinks it's fine to plop next to me on the seat. I think back to the night at ACID. How we were so close of the couch, how he kissed me and he wouldn't get off. How he whispered those things, _Don't look so disappointed, this is want you wanted. Isn't it? Someplace quieter? Now, if you would just cooperate this won't take long._

I instinctively scoot to the far end of the seat, earning a questioning look from my mother to which I ignore.

_Don't even think about telling. _He said, _Around here, we don't testify outsiders._

**Chase:**

"Wait, so you _didn't _want to go with Aline?" Adam has been trying to figure out my situation since homeroom. I was so relieved when he dropped it at lunch, I guess it was too lucky to be true. I breathe exasperatedly.

"I did." I reply tersely.

"So you don't want to go with Gabriella?"

"I do."

"But you want to go with Aline."

"I don't."

"But you asked her to go."

"Yes."

"But you didn't want to?"

I puff. "_No- _I mean…yes? I don't know okay. Let's just stop talking about it."

"Jeez it's like Danielle all over again." I hear Adam mutter. I glare at him before heading back down to the lab, deciding it's not even worth retorting. When we get down to the lab, Mr. Davenport is standing by the projector, the one that showed us the pictures last night. His chin is in his hands and his eyes are squinted at the camera on the screen, showing a live- I'm assuming- feed of one of the prisoners in the interrogation room. I come to the conclusion that I have never seen Mr. Davenport so serious in my life. Ever. The man is alone, sitting hunched at the table. He is waiting patiently, spinning his thumbs around each other like the opposite ends of a magnet. They seem to move like the gears in his head. Plotting something sinister. The orange of his outfit seems to glow in the dull white background. He looks like someone from Seven Pounds, or any movie ever where the police take part in it. I don't know what scares me more, the look on the man on screen- Micheal or Cain or whatever he said their name was- or the look on Mr. Davenport's face as he watches him. His face is as cold in hate as you would expect to see from a criminal, from a murderer or attempted. Or possibly a victim staring down his attacker. Has Mr. Davenport been a vicim to anyone of these crimes? Or known someone who has?

"Did you find anything?" I ask.

Mr. Davenport snaps out of his hateful daze and he look at us.

"Nope. They haven't talked. We've been trying to play nice but they still won't play fair."

"So…what are you gonna do? If they don't play by the rules?" Bree asks. Davenport just gives her a grim look, we all know what that means. BTK- Blind, Torture, Kill. With a long extended T.

"Did you notice anything weird at school?" He asks. I feel a hollow feel of incompletion in my heart. With all this going on with Aline I had forgotten to look.

"Nope." In say confidently, "Nothing new. I mean unless you count Principle Perry and her new naked mole rat people keep calling her Ant Bridget I think we're on safe grounds."

"Yea well I wouldn't call it safe." Mr. Davenport says, closing down the screen. "Not yet. Look harder tomorrow. I'll let you know if we get a lead." He leaves without another word. The rest of the afternoon is normal, I catch up on homework and Leo and Adam play video games. Bree talks on the phone blocking out the rest of us and by nightfall I'm alone. Everyone is up in their rooms or down in their capsules sleeping or working or doing whatever. And I am up, for no reason at all. I sit on the couch flipping through channels on the television when I hear a knock on the door. Light and fragile like someone I know. But I doubt it's her, it's too late at night and she made it clear she wanted nothing to do with me. Or at least that's how I interpreted it. But who would be stopping by this late? Suddenly I feel very defensive, normally people are told not to answer the door at night, but I don't have anything to be afraid of or threatened by for obvious reasons.

Painfully I stand, laziness and fatigue making my body feel hell-bound. I make my way over to the door, apprehensively unlocking and opening it and when I do I instantly lose my shield. I put all defense to rest an focus on the broken soul in front of me. Aline, she stands cold wrapped in a black leather jacket I had no idea she had and wet tearstains decorate her eyes like a waterfall in a garden. Somehow her sadness makes her more beautiful, but I still can't handle it any more than before.

"Aline? What's wrong?" I don't even ask what she's doing here. I don't care, I'm just glad to see her. She says nothing. Slowly, like her blood is made of molasses, she pushes into me. Her body is so warm, she wraps her arms around my waist burying her face in my chest and I find myself breathless at the unexpected physical contact. I feel like an aqua phobic surfer who has just touched land, I didn't realize how desperately I needed her close. How much I loved being close. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her, laying my head on hers, feeling her body tense and release as the sob escapes her. I rock her gently letting her cry into my shoulder, not knowing what to say or if I should say anything at all.

"I don't want to go home." She says finally, somehow I'm not surprised. "Please don't make me."

"Stay with me." I reply, feeling every word heavy with pieces of my heart as I give them to her. "Stay with me."

**Yea so that's that chapter. Again sorry for taking too long, if you review I'll send you the whole first chapter for "Summer Song" instead of just a preview since I haven't been updating. I'll try to update sooner now since my script is done(yay!) and yea…oh and if you have any ideas for the story- anything you'd like to see any suggestions- I'd be open to listen and I might even use them. Just inbox me. Later!**


	18. Chapter 17

**Hey peeps! Spring Break in ATL YEA! That's irrelevant…other than the fact that I should be able to update more now. YAY! Okay, here's Aline…**

**PS I'm gonna put more music in this one.**

**Aline:**

_The veil is lifted from my face. I meet the eyes of my groom with a bright grin on my face, a grin that shatters when I see him. His blue eyes drown my in a sea of misery, his deep black pupils remind me of the darkest shadow he has cast upon my life and I shudder._

"_Do you, Trevor White, take Aline Merrick as your lovely wedded wife?" the pastor speaks but his words are like a blur._

"_For now and forever." He says, he looks at me with a look that could be perceived as love but I know different. This look is possessive, as if to say '_you're mine. You'll always be mine.'

"_And do you Aline Merrick-"_

"_No." I say automatically, the crowd gasps but I don't care, I back away from the monster. "No." I repeat. "No no no no no!"_

_And now I'm running. I gather up my white dress so I don't trip and then I push through the church doors, grape-vining down the red carpet stairs. I run, and I never look back. I can't look at my father and the disapproving look he's giving me, the undeniable hurt on my mother's face…_

My eyes snap open. I don't scream, thank god, but my heart is hammering in my chest exponentially. I breath, slowing my heart rate and grabbing hold of reality. Which is, ironically, not too far from the dream. Last night my parents dropped a bomb on my shoulders. They told me about the agreement our families made a long time ago, how the pastor helped us out of foreclosure in the dark days of Merrick Inc., how my father agreed that by if he had a daughter she would marry his son. If he had a son, he would serve the White family.

"Why me?"I yell my mother last night after the pastor's family left. We had a fallout.

"Because he _chose_ you Aline. He chose _you_. You should be happy."She replied just as loud. I wanted to break something. She didn't understand how much I did not want this, how they are literally destroying my life.

"He chose me? Like a something you'd buy at a flea market?" I throw my hands up. "Go ahead! Take your pick! Everything's cheap here you can buy whatever you want! No seriously, _whatever you want. _You see that girl over there? Beautiful girl, brilliant, and a great deal, too! You can have her for only 3.95. Hell, you know what? Why don't you just pay off my mortgage and we'll call it even!" I yell, I am too angry to cry. Fury sears my chest and I lose all filters. I say whatever I want; I don't care how much it hurts her because they clearly don't care for me. "You know what I think?" I start coldly, "I don't think you every really loved me. Or Erin, or Ethan. You and dad are so business savvy, all you think about before you do anything is what you can get out of it. When you had Erin you thought she would go to college- Harvard or Princeton or Yale, something you can brag about. You thought she would dream of taking over the company when you guys are done. You thought she'd be smart, persistant, _cruel, _and well…just like _you._"

"Aline you don't know what you're talking about-"

"Ethan. You wanted him to run the world. You knew he was going to own the company- whether he wanted to or not. But then he decided he wanted to join the army, go into politics instead of business and you just hated the idea of your boy becoming one of those bloodsuckers. But then- oh but then you began to think about it. You thought- you _thought-_ 'wait a minute! If he's at the top and we're on top of _him _then _that-_" I put extra emphasis on the 'that' "_That _means that we're riding on the clouds, right? Big castles with walls made of gold that keep out all the unwanted- like your _children._"

"Aline just _stop-"_

"And then it all comes down to me. I had to be perfect, I'm the last one. You couldn't afford to mess up with me, so you planned out everything, my life one event at a time. You raised me to be subservient and cold-hearted and to make sure you had a hold on me for my entire life, you decided who I would marry before I was even _born. _You just don't get it do you? You can't control everything- you can't control _me_! This is _my life. _My choices, my mistakes, my lessons. My happiness, my misery and _none of your business."_

My mother looks unspoken, she can't comprehend my new standing composure. Her little girl, her quiet angel now bares her wings, and they aren't white with purity but black with power. Firey with fury and they refuse to be overlooked, they refuse to be underestimated any longer.

"I will not marry Trevor White." I said, and then with my new wings I flew, stalking past my mother and into my room then slamming the door behind me.

That night I escaped, climbed out of my window and left. I don't know what I was thinking or when I decided to come to the Davenports' house, I just know that I felt a strong longing for someone's touch, the loving affection of one person. His arms wrap around me at the curve of my hip. Frozen, I stare at the wall I face. The walls are blue, rock posters and pictures of plants and the solar system; complex illustrations of body systems and the periodic table decorate the blue walls that rise into an off-white ceiling. Next to me is a nightstand with an orange lamp and a few toy bugs- how cute- and a picture. Of me. My school picture from last year is cut out of the book and sits on the rosewood surface. I reach out for it, careful not to wake Chase. I looked so much like Erin that day, my hair bobby-pinned back exposing my very round face. I wore my mother's beige work dress that day, it's thick strap visible in the corner of the photo. That was also one of the only days I have worn make up, green shadow peeks out on my eyelids, pink lip gloss shines in the camera light.

"You take nice pictures." I jump at the sound of his voice, I turn over and she Chase is wide awake, his lips curve into a smile.

"Did I wake you?"

"You? No, I'd been up for a while."

"Oh," I blush, his arm moves up my spine, casually, if you can say that. "What made you wake? Was it a bad dream?"

He smiles but it looks like a mask, he pushes a lock of my hair back brushing my cheek with his fingers.

"Don't worry about it." He says. I smile genuinely, looking around the rest of the room. It looks like an average geek room with some elements of regular boys. More posters, a desk with papers thrown all over it like a table cloth. There's a collection of guitars on the wall, one red electric and another blue two decorated acoustic, both with a bohemian design.

"You play?" I ask sitting up, regrettably leaving his warm hold.

"It's just a hobby but yea, I play a little."

"Me too." I think of my songbook sitting on my bed at home, its black music notes sitting bored on the leather. I wish I had brought it, I could maybe impress Chase with my elaborate vocabulary and creative fluid writing.

"I kind of figured. At your house, you said you loved music."

"Yea, sometimes I write my own. It's a good way to release you're stress and…you know." I lose track of my sentence realizing Chase is staring at me.

"Actually I don't really know. Why don't you tell me?"

"Well…" I look for the words, the right words, to explain what I mean. Something interesting but not too confusing or Shakespearean. "It's like…when your heart sings there's nothing left to say. It's all in the music."

I hope that made sense, I look at Chase. He looks like he's considering what I said, he's imagining the feeling like I just explained a broken leg or falling in love.

"Do you…want to hear something?" I stutter, a little over zealous but who cares? What is life living in your comfort zone.

"Why not?" his face lights up in interest. He gets up and grabs the acoustic, I watch how he moves as he reaches for it, as he holds it in his hands, as he carefully walks it back to me. I set the body on my lap, it's wood is cold but it feels good on my skin. I search my mind for which one would be appropriate to sing, then I look into his green eyes and know exactly which one, one that comes from my heart releasing the jitters in my head.

I start to strum the chords, clearing my mind of everything but the words I'm meaning to say, releasing the guarded nervousness that blocks my throat, disallowing me to sing. And then the words spill, the come out smoothly like a river, like a downhill flow of water.

_All I knew this morning when I woke_

_Is I know something now, know something now I didn't before._

_And all I've seen since eighteen hours ago_

_Is green eyes and freckles in your smile_

_In the back of my mind making me feel like_

_I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now._

For a panicked second I lose focus and don't know what to say.

_I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now._

_I just wanna know you, know you know you._

_All I know is we said hello_

_And your eyes look like coming home_

_All I know since yesterday is_

_Everything has changed._

He grabs the other acoustic, sitting back in front of me and matching my chords.

_And all my walls stand tall painted blue_

_And I'll take them down, take them down_

_And open up the door for you._

I grin, something changes inside of me like doves taking flight.

_And all I feel in my stomach is butterflies_

_The beautiful kind, making up for lost time_

_Taking flight making me feel like_

_I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now._

_I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now._

Chase begins to sync his voice with mine.

_I just wanna know you better know you better, know you better, know you better now._

_I just wanna know you, know you, know you._

Chase's voice is very impressive, it surprises me. Fills me with a satisfaction I have never felt before, like a flower blossoming in my chest, butterflies' fluttering to their bloom and it's all one beautiful portrait.

_Come back and tell me why_

_I'm feeling like I've missed you all this time,_

_And meet me there tonight_

_And let me know that it's not all in my mind._

_I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now._

_I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now._

_I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now._

_I just wanna know you, know you, know you…_

Chase cups my face in his hands, sliding his fingers through my hair, behind my neck. My skin jumps where he touches me, I place my hand of his holding him closer. He grabs my face in his other hand and delicately holds my head like a crystal orb. His eyes search mine, for resistance but I make sure that he sees none. My heart jumps in my chest, doing backflips and summersaults like the Olympics. Chase leans forward so that our noses touch. I fight my body's resistance. I'm not going to let one bad memory ruin this moment or any other moments.

"Are you gonna let me kiss you?" He asks, Chase is nothing like Tre, because unlike with Tre, I want him to touch me. I want to feel his lips on mine and the big difference is, if I say stop he will and he won't ask any questions about it.

He leans closer, without touching me until finally I can't take it anymore. I pull him into me, our lips collide like fireworks. I wrap my arms around his neck, my fingers in his ash brown hair. He pulls me closer, arms under my back; he's a lot stronger than I would have guessed, than anyone probably would have. The instruments fall off the edge of the bed but I hardly notice them. Chase pushes me down on my back, suddenly all of his wait on top of me. He's warm, solid, and comfortable. One arm sits under my back; the other grips the sheets beside my head. After a long period of time he finally lifts his head off from mine. We separate, panting. My heart beats like humming bird wings, light and fast. He runs his hand over my cheek again, his green eyes are soft, they remind me of a plain field of grass, someplace safe where I can make my home. He kisses me softly once more, fast and sudden like an afterthought.

"Chase…" I breath. He makes a sound, like he's in a dream but awake. "Nevermind." I say, letting the moment sink in. I smile, basking in the light of a new day. I can finally see the beautiful sunshine flooding in through the open window and I can be impressed by it. I don't shield my eyes from the uncanny cancer-rays, but I bathe in the sunshine as it is a reminder of my happiness no matter how long it may last. The fire that used to burn my like a flame now lights a new fire inside me. One that's willing to fight, to stand up for me, stand up for Chase, stand up for us and everything else I believe is right. Because this is my life, my choice, my way and nobody has anything to do with it. Not even Trevor.

And he needs to know that.

**I'm gonna end it here, because it's been a while I decided to put a little happy part in here with the infamous mush you guys were looking for. Does that work for ya? Oh and thank you SarcasticKitten for your input, I like how you think. Any other suggestions I'm fully open to and if you leave a review I'll give you preview to the next chapter in Summer Song. Anything else….nope! HAG-D!**


	19. Chapter 18

**Heyyyyy I forgot to say that last chapter's song name even though I'm sure everyone knows, it's "Everything has Changed" by T-Swift and Sheerio(aka Ed Sheeran), I thought it'd be appropriate since Chase has green eyes and freckles and they haven't known each other long yet they're falling fast. Let me know what you think. Okay so Chase can take it from here. Chase…**

**Chase:**

If love is where your heart beats fast and time slows down and all you want to be is close to that person than yea, I finally see what Bree was talking about. I always imagined being "in love" as being just a shallow minded activity for people who have nothing to do on their own, I never imagined it as an actual feeling. One that swells inside your stomach and messes up your brain, one that makes you feel invincible like you can do the impossible. One that makes you feel strong and happy even when you're weak and breaking down. A powerful feeling that drives you making your life worth living and fighting for.

Aline lies still underneath me, I finally broke through whatever walls she built up, whatever secrets kept her closed and I feel relieved. And happy, I feel accomplished and free.

Her tiny fingers trace shapes along my jawline. Something about her touch takes my breath away. I never imaged looking into someone's eyes could be so titillating, her blue eyes are a sea of mystery and promise, they're captivating like sapphires, beautiful like gems. Rare gems, like her.

"Did anyone ever tell you," she starts, "that you are very tenacious?"

A grin creeps onto my face.

"Did anyone ever tell _you,_" I touch my nose to hers, "that you're very high maintenance?"

She giggles. An angelic melody that's sound trills in my ears like Christmas bells. Her eyes close, her head lying on its side away from my face, I see the flush of her cheeks and the slight dimple that forms when she smiles. It's picture perfect beauty. Trapped in a surge of confidence, I take her chin and turn it to face me again and then I feel, like a powerful magnetic pull, a need to be closer. I lean in slowly, ever so slowly, and then-

"Oh don't worry, I'm not watching." Eddy. He ruins everything.

Aline jumps, totally caught off guard. I keep one hand on her waist holding her down so she doesn't fly out the window. I feel a leap of her heart before her body is totally disconnected with mine, I didn't realize it was so cold in here without her warmth.

"Eddy." I say, annoyance opaquely decorating my voice. "Don't worry, it's just our smart home system. He's a lacking little in the 'smart' part but he violates our home like a pro."

"Yea…" she says, clearly estranged, "Where's your bathroom? I think I have to wash that off."

**Aline:**

The water is warm over my fingers, I carefully watch my fingers as I scrub soap from my hands. I've always loved to wash the bubbles from my hands; when I was in kindergarten and learning how to wash my hands teachers would always tell me how good I was because you know how they always patronize us with bogus accomplishments that will never really get us anywhere in life. I guess that's appropriate at that age…and I guess washing your hands will get you somewhere in life, or at least keep you out of the emergency room…it actually won't even do that. I don't know. Let's just be glad people wash their hands, and pray more people will follow the trend.

Just when I'm about to turn the sink off the bathroom door flies open. I jump, on the outside of the door is little Leo. He screams when he sees me, I scream because he screams. He screams, I scream, and then we just stop.

"Aline?" he says incredulously, still shocked.

"Hi Leo." I say trying to sound casual. Avoiding further questions I slip past Leo as if this was a normal thing. He watches me pass, wide-eyed and strange. I pretend to ignore him and walk back into Chase's room.

**Leo**

I walk back down to the living room scratching the back of my head. Did I really just see Aline Merrick in my house? Did she really just walk into Chase's room? I should have known, as soon as Davenport took Bree's advice and gave them new rooms they'd start to doing weird…der than normal stuff but hiding a girl over night? I don't know whether I should be creeped out or impressed. Chase and Aline. I didn't think it would actually happen but somehow he made it. There's gotta be some brain control device he has hidden in his room or something.

Bree lies on the couch with her feet up and her face buried in her phone. Adam is on the counter with a creative stack of macaroni towers or whatever- the guy's not an artist- and he's fully concentrating on sticking the next to pasta pieces together.

"Hey did you guys know Aline is upstairs?" I ask, hoping that one of them can confirm my suspicions.

"She is?" Bree speaks up; I guess they didn't know either. "Is she…?"

"Yea." I say, her eyes widen as if I just told her Brad Pitt cheated on Angelina Jolie…wait didn't that happen?

"Oh. Did they…?" Bree starts, and then lets me catch up with her sentence.

"Gross I don't know!" I slap my hands over my ears.

"Wait I'm confused." Adam says as his _Leaning Tower of Pizza _tumbles down. He stares at it with wide eyes that say he screwed up. I fight a face palm.

Bree shakes her head. "So tell me _exactly _what you saw." She says.

"I don't know I ran into her in the bathroom and-" I start before Adam interrupts.

"Wait wait wait. You walked in on Aline? What color was her underwear?"

My cheeks burn. "_NO._ I didn't actually _see _her I…wait what kind of question is that?"

"Just ask Chase." Bree says satirically. I raise an eyebrow.

"Okay this conversation just took a sharp turn into horndog nation. I'm just gonna go…somewhere else."

**Aline**

I slam the door behind me louder than intended and lean against it, holding me hand on the knob, happy to be back in the isolation of the room. The safety of small numbers- just me and Chase, who stands with a raised eyebrow on the edge of his bed, a red shirt halfway on.

"What happened to you." He asks, there's something in his voice that tells me he already has an idea.

"Oh nothing. You know, just…meeting the family." I say nonchalantly.

"Oh…" he says, the words seem to glide in the air as they leave his lips. My phone blares, the chorus of 'Elastic Heart' plays loudly. I dive across the room onto the bed where my Poptart-covered phone lays idly on the blue sheets.

"Sia." He says with a smile. "Nice."

I shoot him a look before checking the phone screen. It's Erin. I let it ring until it stops. When her name finally disappears- and the background picture of us standing in a green field, Erin leans against my back and we grin elatedly as bubbles fill the air with more joy- I see I have fourteen missed calls from Erin, Ethan, and another number. I don't usually answer unknown numbers so I toss the phone back on the bed and puff, letting my back fall against the headboard. My parents are probably so mad, when I get home my mother is going to kill me. And my dad…let's just say there's no exaggeration in that. Chase climbs in the bed next me again, he lays on his back with his hands on his stomach, like me.

"Aline what's wrong?" he asks. I purse my lips nonchalantly, shaking my head. He strokes my face attentively, but I still stay quiet. I trust Chase, I do. But some things I just can't talk about with anybody, not yet.

"Is it your dad?" he asks as if reading my mind. I look at him, at his oblivious eyes and decide it was a random guess. He still doesn't know anything, I shake my head.

"What made you leave last night?" he asks again. I absently play with the hem of his shirt, avoiding his eyes. Avoiding my safety and honesty and truth, and promise. Promises that would never be broken. Still, I can't bring myself to say anything.

"I see," he says, anger and exasperation taints his voice, "even after everything you still don't think you can trust me."

"No Chase it's not that I-" but it's too late, he's standing and walking out of the room leaving me alone. I'm alone, again.

I decided it's best I left after Chase, no point in staying if he's mad at me. I climbed out of his window, deciding any more contact would not help my current situation. Outside of Chase's room it's not as bright as it was before. Maybe it's the noon sun, maybe it's the faded glow I had earlier being so happy and so close to someone who makes me happy. Somebody I keep pushing away…

Stop it Aline. You're doing what's best for you _and _him, and everyone else. I'm not headed home just yet; I want to hold off my punishment for a little longer. I'm sure to go to hell once I get home, I'd rather bask in purgatory for as long as I can.

My phone rings again, I let it ring for a while before considering answering it. Letting the lyrics touch me in the right places, giving me hope where I'm lacking.

_Well I've got thick skin and an elastic heart_

_But your blade it may be too sharp._

Okay, maybe a little pessimistic but who cares. At least I can relate.

I pull the phone out of my coat pocket and the screen lights up with Erin's name and picture. I answer this time, figuring if anyone should know where I am, it should be her.

"Hello." I say stupidly.

"Where the hell are you?" she asks, anger and worry and pure frustration decorate her voice like splatter paint.

"I'm fine if that's what you're asking."

"It's not." She says bluntly. "Where have you been, mom and dad have been worried sick."

I scoff, a bitter resentment swells in my gut. "Have they now?" I spit. "Don't they have a chip or something implanted in my brain they could just look on their ephones and find out where I am-"

"Just _stop. _What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about our despotic parents with their fictitious illusions that they can control my life and will use anything at their disposal to do that-"

"Aline," her warning voice is light but deadly, like a sprite or pixie, "the story. Tell it."

I come up on Keenoble and Shadowlane, black cars and green ones, blue, red and silver all pass by in their respective lanes. The traffic light changes from an orange hand to a little man and I walk alone across the street, watching every white rectangle pass underneath my feet.

"Look, it's kind of a long story. I'll explain everything later when I get home just promise you won't tell anybody where I am." I say.

"When are you coming home?"

I stop and look up at the building in front of me, my destination. It's letters are not as illuminated as they are at night, but the building still stands tall and unmistakable; clearly a place of adolescent entertainment.

"Let me get back to you on that." I say, and I hang up the phone. With that, I march up the street and into the building that started it all, that's existence stained my life. The one that holds the only solution to my miseries.

ACID.

**Well I'm going to end it here my peeplz. We're working towards a grand finale, but don't worry we still have plenty more chapters before this thing ends. And I haven't forgotten about Judex Mafia in case you were wondering, they're coming back too. Alright, any suggestions would be nice, I'll try to work them in and…read and review! That's it. Later peepz!**


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